Two Requests
by Rinpa
Summary: Iruka and Kakashi begin to realize that they are attracted to one another, but somehow, things just aren't going smoothly.  Rated T for now, but may be changed later.  KakaIru
1. Chapter 1 & 2

Yo, Shokun!

Mega thanks to everyone who reviewed my first fic. You guys gave me the confidence to post this one. The most frequent complaint was "too short," so this one is quite a bit longer. Here's the first installment. Hope you enjoy.

Disclaimer: I have no rights to Naruto. Apologies to the real owners for stealing their characters and making them do strange things.

…...

Two Requests:

Chapter 1: Crouching Tiger, Clucking Hen

"You're _late_."

The absurd excuse died on Kakashi's tongue. Iruka was standing just inside Konoha's gates, arms crossed, glaring. This man had quite the temper, Kakashi recalled belatedly. Best not to provoke him any farther. It wasn't as if Iruka could do anything to him, but they were going to be stuck together for awhile, and Kakashi would prefer to pass that time as peacefully as possible.

"Sorry to make you wait, Iruka-sensei," he apologized straightforwardly, "Shall we get going?"

The storm diffused before it had even begun. Iruka sighed resignedly, and his hands dropped to his sides. "I suppose there's no help for it. This is _you_ we're talking about after all, Kakashi-san," he said with a wan smile, "If you'd come on time, I would have thought there was a major problem in the world order."

Kakashi laughed weakly as he followed Iruka out of the gates. "I guess I deserved that…" He caught up to his irascible companion, and matched his brisk pace. When Iruka was in one of his gentler moods, it was hard to imagine how violent his temper could get. Until Kakashi had taken on responsibility for team 7, he'd barely noticed the chuunin's existence. For sure, their paths hadn't crossed much, but even when they did, Iruka's manner was so quiet and unassuming that he hadn't made much of an impression. Of course, getting to know Naruto had inevitably meant getting to know his former sensei a little better. The initial image Kakashi had attached to Iruka was that of a mother hen, clucking over her chicks; gentle and caring, if occasionally exploding into brief bursts of outrage, more entertaining than alarming, at some of the more unconscionable behavior of his charges.

That was his picture of the man—until he'd recommended Iruka's favorite student for the potentially deadly Chuunin exam. He'd had to revise his mental image from mother hen to mother tigress. He'd gotten the distinct impression at the time that Iruka would have gladly ripped him limb from limb, if that had been at all feasible. Fortunately, it wasn't, and Kakashi had lived to see his faith in his students vindicated, and the mother tigress's fury abate.

It was a little odd, Kakashi mused, that he always attached female imagery to Iruka. He gave his companion a sidelong glance. There really wasn't anything feminine in his appearance. He was tanned and broad shouldered, with a sturdy build. He was maybe a few centimeters short of Kakashi's height, but that was still respectable. His features were open and honest, but rather plain; certainly not the delicate features that you'd associate with a woman's face. It must all be in the motherly personality and the fact that he was always surrounded by kids. He shot another look at Iruka and found him looking expectantly back at him.

Iruka frowned in disapproval when, finally catching Kakashi's eye, he received only a blank look. "Kakashi-san," he gritted, "did you hear_ anything_ I said?"

"Ahh…" Kakashi scratched the back of his head and his eye arched in a sheepish smile. "I'm afraid not. Sorry."

Iruka's face reddened with anger. "_Listen_ when people are talking to you, huh? Isn't that just common courtesy?" The volume of his voice had risen until it was just under a shout. Now, with a few deep breaths, he consciously controlled himself. He crossed his arms and adopted a stern expression. "I'm disappointed in you, Kakashi-san!"

Kakashi tried not to laugh, thankful that Iruka couldn't see the expression on his face. Iruka was chiding him almost as if he was one of his flock of students. It was rather cute.

"Maa maa," he said placatingly, "Don't say that. I'm listening now, so what was it you were saying?"

Iruka still didn't look pleased, but he had no choice but to accept Kakashi's request that he repeat himself. "I was trying to fill you in on the details of the mission. Hokage-sama said that she wouldn't have time to brief you properly."

"Mm. True enough. All she told me was that it would take about two weeks and that you were the other member of the team. Now that I think about it, I don't even know where we're going…"

Iruka sighed hopelessly. "And you didn't think to _ask_? Oh never mind. Here's the situation in a nutshell: The son of the daimyo of the Country of Ink has taken a fancy to the daughter of one of the wealthy ink merchants. It seems the competing merchant clans think that the family connection to the daimyo will give that family too great of a business advantage, and are ready to do almost anything to keep the marriage from proceeding. So, the father of the bride has hired us to make sure nothing happens to his daughter before the wedding."

"Oh? How uninteresting. Why was this classified as an A rank mission?"

"There's a rumor that the other clans are pooling their resources to hire some elite ninja. If it's true, and depending on whom they can get their hands on, things could get difficult. That's why Tsunade-sama thought it was worth sending you. You're not just strong, you're well suited to fighting a very wide range of opponents. Even if we don't know exactly what we're up against before-hand, as long as we have you, everything should be fine."

Kakashi glanced over at his companion with a raised eyebrow. What was this? Hero worship? Sucking up? Neither, it seemed. Iruka's expression was completely matter-of-fact. "I see… So my role is to flawlessly repel attack from any enemy, regardless of skill, type, or numbers."

Iruka, recognizing the absurdity, smiled sheepishly. "Well, more or less, yeah. Sorry, but unless there are some small fry in the mix, I probably won't be much help, though I'll do my best."

Kakashi raised his other eyebrow, although it was hidden from sight beneath his hitai-ate. Iruka wasn't exactly overflowing with self confidence, it seemed. Well, he wasn't all that familiar with the chuunin's capabilities. Maybe his low opinion of himself was well warranted. "So… No offense, but what's your role in all this, then?"

Iruka laughed self-deprecatingly. "No offense taken. Basically, I'm along as the bride's baby-sitter. Hokage-sama thought I was particularly suited to the job…"

Kakashi grinned under his mask, but didn't say anything.

"But leaving the mission aside…" Iruka's face was suffused with such a sweet mix of affection and concern, that Kakashi couldn't help but feel an answering warmth stir in his chest. "I wanted to ask you… How has Naruto been doing lately? Things have been so busy that I haven't really had time to talk to him for a while…"

Kakashi couldn't help himself. He reached out a hand to ruffle Iruka's hair, just as he would have done with Naruto himself. Iruka made a very interesting expression; eyes round, brows drawn together, mouth twisted half in surprise and half in displeasure, and cheeks flushed. Kakashi ignored his less than favorable reaction and smiled kindly at him. "You don't have to worry about Naruto, Iruka-sensei," he told him reassuringly, "Jiraiya-sama has been responsible for his training lately, so I don't know the details, but every time I see him, he's gotten stronger. Naturally, he's in perfectly good health and spirits, too."

Iruka was still a little red in the face, but his mouth curved into a smile. "Thank you, Kakashi-san. You don't know how glad I am to hear that."

Kakashi laughed, and reached out to give the young man another pat on the head. Iruka dodged his hand with a frown and a return of the color in his cheeks. He clapped a protective hand over the top of his head. "I'm not a kid, Kakashi-san," he said reproachfully, "Please don't treat me like one."

"Ah… sorry, Iruka-_sen-sei_." He pronounced the title with an impudent lilt in his voice that set Iruka's teeth on edge, and ostentatiously shoved his hands into his pockets and out of temptation.

"_Ka-ka-shi-san!"_ Iruka growled, but the merry curve of Kakashi's eye when he turned to look at him made it impossible to maintain his anger. All he could do was go one notch redder in the face. "You're enjoying this, aren't you Kakashi-san…" he grumbled.

"Very much so, Iruka-sensei," he paused and then added with a touch more sincerity than he'd put into his last apology, "I _am_ sorry, though. I'll stop teasing now. Promise."

Iruka just sighed and shifted the pack on his back.

…

Iruka found dealing with Kakashi-san… difficult. People were always telling him he was too simple minded. Mizuki had even called him naïve. To some extent, he thought, all that was true. He was a very straightforward person, and Kakashi-san was pretty much his polar opposite. Frankly, Iruka had absolutely no idea what he was thinking most of the time. Like for instance, how could such an excellent shinobi, who demonstrated such a strong sense of duty in some areas, be so consistently and atrociously late for everything? And then there was his mischievous sense of humor. For some reason, Kakashi-san seemed to be having a great deal of fun stirring him up, just to take the wind out of his sails a moment later. Iruka was starting to find himself both confused and overwhelmed by the force of Kakashi-san's personality. Normally, their interactions were brief and superficial. On those occasions the legendary copy-nin had always come off as—a little weird, yes—but laid back. Kind of… mild. But then he remembered the one time when he'd challenged Kakashi-san's decision to allow Naruto and his team to participate in the Chuunin exams—with rather unseemly violence, he had to admit. Kakashi-san, instead of trying to placate him, had deliberately provoked him further. Iruka still couldn't imagine why, but now Kakashi-san was doing essentially the same thing, if in a less serious situation. Was this some kind of perverse habit of his? Or maybe he wasn't as calm and collected as he seemed, and this was how he showed his annoyance. Iruka could easily believe that Kakashi-san had been annoyed with him back then, but had he done anything to piss him off this time?

And then there was that pat on the head. He'd thought his heart would explode from sheer surprise the first time Kakashi-san had touched him. He could feel himself blush just thinking about it. That was the kind of thing he did he did to Naruto. It was a gesture of love and affection… _definitely _not the sort of thing you did to another man only a few years younger than yourself. Or at least, that was how _he_ saw it. Clearly, it must mean something completely different to Kakashi-san. After all, they barely knew each other. What love and affection could Sharingan-Kakashi possibly have for a nobody like _him_?

He found himself unconsciously touching the spot on the top of his head where Kakashi-san's hand had lain. Self-consciously, he glanced at his companion. Sure enough, he was observing him with an amused glimmer in his eye. Iruka looked away quickly, hooked his traitorous hands firmly into the straps of his pack, and focused on the path ahead of him as if his life depended on it.

…

Chapter 2: Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time

That night there was a brief scuffle over who would take the first watch. Kakashi was prepared to sit up first, but Iruka, still bothered by the pat on the head, felt like he was being patronized. He might not be as skillful a ninja as Kakashi-san—OK, there was really no comparison—but at least he could match him in stamina. He insisted that he wasn't tired at all, and demanded that the older man sleep first. Kakashi gave him a long, unreadable look before shrugging his shoulders and lying back in the grass of the little clearing they'd found to camp in. For a while he just lay on his back, staring at the small patch of star-studded sky visible through the over-hanging branches. Finally, he closed his eye, rolled over with his back to his companion, and as far as Iruka could tell, went to sleep.

While Kakashi-san was still awake, Iruka diligently scanned the eves of the forest, but when there was no longer any possibility of being observed, Iruka found his eyes straying more and more frequently toward his companion. The star light was glimmering very invitingly, he found, in the wild silver tangle of Kakashi-san's hair, and he was gripped by an inescapable curiosity to know what it felt like. And after all, Kakashi-san was the one who had started this whole head-touching business. If _he_ could do it, why couldn't Iruka? He shifted slowly, stealthily, trying not to rustle the overgrown grass and weeds he'd unadvisedly set himself down in. He reached out. Kakashi-san rolled over. His one visible eye, almost frighteningly dark in the poor light, focused on the outstretched hand, frozen a few inches from his head, then shifted to Iruka's horrified face.

"…Did you want something from me?"

"…._!_"

What a bad time for Kakashi-san to turn over. But of course, it wasn't just a coincidence. No, Kakashi-san must have been awake the whole damn time. He must have heard Iruka trying not to be heard, and turned over to see what the hell he was doing. And how exactly was he going to _explain_ what he was doing? "Sorry, I suddenly really wanted to touch your hair…" sounded too weird even in Iruka's head.

"I… Um…" Still, his mind remained stubbornly blank.

The long, awkward pause stretched out until Kakashi finally took pity on him and broke the silence. "No sign of an ambush, I trust?"

"No. No, there's nothing wrong. That's not… anyway, there's nothing wrong." Iruka babbled, relieved. He didn't even want to contemplate what Kakashi-san thought about his strange behavior, but at least he wasn't going to make him put it into words. Now that Iruka was thinking a little more clearly, he realized that having compulsions to touch somebody in their sleep was not _at all_ in the same category as patting a kouhai on the head. He didn't even want to explain it to himself, much less Kakashi-san.

Kakashi's eye was still examining Iruka's face. Finally, he uttered a sort of non-committal grunt, and turned over. There was a moment of silence, then:

"Oyasumi, Iruka-sensei," Kakashi drawled.

Meaning, probably, 'that was fucking weird, but to show you that I still trust you, I'm going to go to sleep in your presence.' Iruka took it as a token of forgiveness, and relaxed a little, swearing to himself that he would repay Kakashi's trust by thoroughly quashing the next weird impulse that came along.

Because for some reason, he felt that something had started when Kakashi touched him, and that this wouldn't be the last weird impulse he would have.

…

Kakashi observed Iruka narrowly all next day. He wasn't sure what to make of the young man's behavior last night. When he'd heard Iruka moving stealthily behind him, he'd assumed that his companion had noticed something in the woods that worried him, but when he'd turned to look, he'd found Iruka reaching for him. Now why the hell had he been doing that? Very weird. Furthermore, the man had been having an _awfully_ hard time thinking up an explanation for his behavior. That part was very Iruka, now that he thought about it. Whatever it was he'd been trying to do, it would have been easy just to say "there was a spider in your hair, and I didn't want to wake you up" or something like that, and pass the whole thing off as nothing. Except that the academy sensei was an absurdly honest person.

And, Kakashi realized, a lie wouldn't have helped Iruka himself deal with whatever he'd been about to do. Judging from the dark circles under his eyes and his edgy mood, Iruka was more bothered by last night's peculiar occurrence than Kakashi was. He knew it wasn't just fatigue from the road. Normally, Iruka's youthful energy and stamina were enough to make him feel old. Furthermore, he'd kept an eye on the young man during his watch last night, and while Iruka had dutifully lain down and closed his eyes, he had been too utterly still and too tense to be actually asleep.

Kakashi's mind ran over all the possible interpretations of Iruka's behavior.

One: He'd been trying to kill him in his sleep. For some reason. And with his bare hands? Not likely.

Two: There really _had_ been a spider in his hair. OK, then why not just say so once he realized Kakashi was awake? No good.

Three: Iruka had sensed some danger in the woods, as Kakashi had originally thought, and had been trying to wake him quietly. Then, again, why not tell him what was going on once he realized Kakashi was already awake? Maybe he didn't want to let the enemy know he'd picked up on their presence? But if that was the case, Iruka would have dropped _some_ kind of sign that there was potential danger, and anyway, Kakashi hadn't noticed the presence of any attackers in the wood. No offense, but it wasn't likely that _Iruka_ would pick up on something that _he_ missed. Not likely, but not, he supposed, impossible. Furthermore, the chuunin had clearly thought Kakashi was patronizing him, and resented it. Maybe he'd thought better of informing Kakashi of the danger and decided to prove his worth by handling it on his own? Something to consider.

Four: Iruka had tried to touch him because he'd simply _wanted_ to. Yes, with _that _kind of want. When this first crossed Kakashi's mind, he'd discounted it as more unlikely, by far, than Iruka suddenly having the homicidal urge to throttle him with his bare hands. After all, Iruka had showed homicidal urges towards him before (over the whole Naruto/chuunin exam thing), and—let's face it—he _had_ been pushing the man's buttons the day before.

But then there were all those blushes. It was really astounding how easily Iruka blushed, what with that dark complexion of his. Kakashi had been passing them off as embarrassment of a different sort, but they could be interpreted as… well… let's just say that idea couldn't be taken off the table just yet.

Kakashi couldn't decide between reasons three and four. His companion's inability to sleep and recent edginess would fit with either. So Kakashi continued to watch Iruka, and he continued to watch the woods on either side of the path for signs of pursuers. The day wore on, no pursuers appeared, and to Kakashi's immense relief, Iruka began to relax. By the time they stopped for the night, he was almost himself again. The night passed uneventfully, with no further strange behavior on his companion's part, and Kakashi decided that, while he couldn't exactly forget the whole thing, he would at least try to push it to the back of his mind. Before the morning was over, they would arrive at the ink merchant's villa, and there would be other things to worry about.

….

'Kay, more is on the way, but that's it for now. I hope you can find it in your heart to review!

To Cardboard Bike: If you're reading, I tried to go back over this and incorporate some of the suggestions you made on the last fic. Some of the honorifics have been preserved in Iruka's POV. That's because, while they're not direct thoughts, they are a reflection of Iruka's state of mind, and I thought dropping the honorific on Kakashi's name would undermine the sense of (somewhat exasperated) respect Iruka has for him, and also the sense of the distance Iruka feels between them. I also tried to cut down on using their names over and over again, but I didn't want to use any descriptions that weren't directly relevant to how the character was being viewed at the time, so I can't say I totally succeeded there, either.


	2. Chapter 3

Here's the next part. By the way, is it just me, or have they been using Inoue Kazuhiko-san to voice random bit parts in addition to Kakashi? There was one moment in particular where I was like, holly cow… what's Nyanko-sensei doing in an Uchiha hideout? It was very disconcerting… But anyway, enjoy!

Disclaimer: I have no rights to Naruto. Apologies to the real owners for stealing their characters and making them do strange things.

…..

Two Requests:

Chapter 3: Every Man's Dream

For the first time in his life, Iruka was struggling not to hate someone for no good reason. Usually, he was too prone to like and trust people who didn't deserve it. Case in point, Mizuki. This time, though, he'd developed a thorough dislike for the ink merchant's daughter almost the instant he met her. Well, to be precise, the instant Kakashi-san met her. And if he was going that far, he might as well admit that the reason he couldn't seem to like her at all, was that Kakashi-san seemed to like her too much.

Kakashi had definitely perked up when they were introduced to the girl. His eye, usually drooping with boredom, had snapped wide open, and Iruka was almost sure he'd seen the edge of a blush peeking out from under Kakashi's mask. On one level, he could completely understand why. The girl had large, dark eyes, framed with long, dark lashes. Her face was flawlessly white, and her features delicate. When she spoke, white teeth flashed between sensuous red lips. Her perfectly black, perfectly straight hair fell in sheets of shining silk around her face and spilled over her back and shoulders to pool on the floor. What was more, even the many layers of her formal court garb couldn't completely conceal a full and very shapely figure, especially when a well timed shrug of the shoulders and bow had allowed them to glimpse the curve of a white breast. Iruka was convinced she'd done it on purpose, though his dislike might have made him somewhat uncharitable.

So yes, he could understand the appeal she seemed to have for Kakashi-san, but he definitely didn't approve. After all, what business did Kakashi-san have being attracted to a woman who was getting married to someone else in two weeks? Or at least, that was the excuse Iruka made to himself for why Kakashi's reaction to the girl was bothering him so much.

"Well then, Iruka-sensei, I'll leave guarding the Ojou-sama to you while I scout out the area."

Iruka snapped back to reality. They had followed the young lady and her retinue of attendants to the wing of the villa that served as her quarters, but Kakashi had stopped on the veranda as the rest of them continued inside. Iruka's spirits rose as Kakashi smiled, gave him a little good-bye wave, and disappeared. The plan had always been for Iruka keep an eye on the young lady directly (mostly to keep her from wandering off somewhere it would be too easy for enemy nin to get at her) while Kakashi would patrol the grounds of the villa and try to head off any attack before it could get anywhere near its mark. It pleased him that, despite his attraction to the girl, Kakashi wasn't going to try to find ways of getting closer to her, or spend more time in her company.

With a cheerful smile, and a renewed resolution to try to like her, Iruka turned to the young lady—only to find her lovely features drawn into a pout and her eyes fixed wistfully at the spot where Kakashi had just been standing.

Iruka fought to keep his smile in place.

…

Iruka was beginning to look rather harassed, Kakashi decided. That is, Iruka was still smiling brightly, still perfectly polite and attentive to his charge, and he hadn't uttered a word of complaint, but the smile was starting to look rather fixed, and Kakashi could detect a strained note in the usual liquid warmth of Iruka's voice. On the whole, it seemed Kakashi could congratulate himself on avoiding spending too much time with the girl. She might be physically attractive, but she must be something of a horror to wear out the endless benevolence of Iruka in less than two weeks.

Actually, he was beginning to get pretty tired of her himself, and he'd only spent about half an hour in her company. The merchant had sent a letter to his prospective son in law with important information regarding the plans for tomorrow's ceremony. One of them was needed to carry the message; to ensure that it wasn't intercepted along the way, as had happened several times before. Kakashi hadn't wanted to leave the bride herself with only Iruka to guard her, and with some reluctance, Iruka had agreed to switch places with Kakashi for awhile. Iruka had left for the daimyo's villa wearing Kakashi's guise, and Kakashi had taken over the role of babysitter. Sure enough, Kakashi had soon sensed the presence of enemy ninja in the garden surrounding the girl's quarters. Apparently, the enemy had fallen for their trick. They'd believed that Kakashi, who had so far succeeded in heading off all incursions before they reached Iruka or the girl, had left the villa, and they had decided to take advantage of his supposed absence to attack.

Kakashi considered his options. He'd been keeping out of sight, so far. If he showed himself, then they would probably withdraw. Unfortunately, showing them that he was still _here _would also let them know that he _hadn't_ been the one sent out as a messenger. They would probably just shift their objective to intercepting the letter. If they did that, the message might not reach its destination, and something unpleasant might happen to Iruka. Through his several encounters with the enemy nin, he'd been able to make a pretty good estimate of their strength. They were too much for a chuunin to handle, especially if they all attacked at once. Of course, if he waited to show himself until the enemy ninja actually attacked, that would bring the fight dangerously close to the girl, but better to run that risk than have to bring everyone's favorite academy sensei back to Konoha in a body bag.

His train of thought was broken as a pair of arms snaked around him from behind. Warm, moist breath stirred the hair on the back of his neck, and he could feel the full bosom of the bride-to-be pressing against his back. In any other circumstance, he would have been happy to go along with the flow, but at the moment, half of his mind was focused on tracking the shifting presences of the ninja slowly closing in on them, and the other half was busy worrying about what might happen to Iruka if he somehow fucked this up. Right now, the girl was an unwelcome distraction.

After just a moment's pause, he said, "Sorry, but we're in a bit of a sticky situation. I'd appreciate it if you let me concentrate…" His voice was gentle and quiet, but even the spoiled Ojou-sama recognized his request for what it was; a solid rejection of her advances.

"_Mou_." She unwound her arms from his body, and slid back on her knees until she was kneeling a somewhat more decent distance from him. "I thought you looked like the better catch of the two, but I guess I was wrong. The other one at least makes an effort to entertain me. Where has he gone?"

Kakashi sighed. Poor Iruka. He had a newborn respect for the man. "He's delivering a message… to your _fiancé_." He hadn't actually thought that would awaken the princess's conscience, and based on the derisive noise she made, it hadn't. Oh well. Not his problem. The important thing was that she'd lost interest in _him_, and was now leaving him to concentrate on the situation at hand.

The nearest enemy presence was now only a few yards away. He raised his hands and silently executed a series of hand signs. There was a puff of smoke, and when it cleared, Iruka was crouching behind the half open shoji door. Or at least, Kakashi was hoping it would look that way to the approaching ninja. He didn't know how long he could keep up the deception once the attack started, but hopefully, he could take down a few of the enemy before they realized who they were really up against and retreated. Any little bit to improve Iruka's chances of delivering his message and getting back safely.

The foremost enemy ninja moved in a flash from the cover of a nearby azalea and lit on the veranda, crouching just on the other side of the shoji screen from Kakashi. Kakashi leveled a kunai at the point where he thought the enemy nin's shoulder ought to be, and then stabbed straight through the paper panel. As soon as he felt the blade connect, he snatched back his arm and kicked the door out of the way. It broke over the ninja still crouching on the other side and, judging from the strangled yell of pain beneath, the impact drove the kunai deeper into the wound. Lucky. If the right muscles had been sheered, he might not be able to use that arm anymore. Meaning no hand signs. Kakashi whipped out another kunai, and deflected the shuriken some of the ninja's comrades had sent flying in his direction. Apparently, they'd decided that there was nothing more to be gained by hiding. Suddenly, it seemed as if ninja were appearing from every nearby rock, tree, and bush. He took a quick count: ten, including the one trying to extricate himself from the wreckage of the screen at Kakashi's feet.

That one had plucked the kunai from his ruined shoulder, and clenching the hilt tightly in his working hand, was gathering himself to spring at Kakashi. Not bad. That was dedication. But pointless. Kakashi dispatched him with a spinning kick. The flying body collided with one of his comrades, just then leaping forward to attack. No lasting damage to the second ninja, but it gave Kakashi a moment to get his bearings and launch an attack of his own.

There wasn't really much he could do. His most serious constraint was that he couldn't move far from the veranda without giving the enemy nin a clear path to the merchant's daughter. His secondary concern was to avoid using any jutsu that would let the enemy know who he was. Naturally, his trademark sharingan, chidori, and his ninken kuchiose no jutsu were out. Katon jutsu were much more generally used, and might have been OK, but he recognized a few ninja in the pack that he'd skirmished with earlier that week. He'd used several katon jutsu then, too. Probably best to avoid them for now.

He started out with a simple barrage of shuriken to keep the enemies heads down a little longer. He flashed through a set of hand signs, and two mizu bunshin rose out of the little stream that fortunately ran under the young lady's quarters. "Yosh. Ikuzo!" he murmured. He himself sank into a defensive stance on the veranda, and his clones leapt into the fray. But bunshin, even when they have a solid form of their own, don't have much staying power when hit with any kind of serious attack. They managed to do some damage to a few of the weaker ninja, but there were three jounin in the mix. Two he recognized from previous encounters. They were no match for him, but more than a match for a bunshin. There was also a third who didn't recognize. These three quickly dispatched his clones. He clicked his tongue in annoyance and drew five more mizu bunshin from the stream. With a larger number of bunshin grouped tightly around him this time, it was possible for him to slip unobtrusively into their ranks. This time, it was one of the bunshin that stayed to guard the young lady while he sprang into the garden to attack. Hopefully, the enemy would think the only difference between this attack and the last was the number of clones, and wouldn't realize how weak a defense he'd left for the girl.

This time, he succeeded in putting the seven underlings out of commission. Two of his clones had been unable to avoid attacks from the jounin level ninja, so now it was just Kakashi and two more bunshin facing off with them. There was a long pause, and then all three jounin attacked at once. The two bunshin duly vanished. Kakashi managed to knock his own opponent flying over the garden wall with a kick borrowed from Gai, but he was now exposed as the real body. The two remaining jounin immediately charged the final bunshin waiting on the veranda. He wouldn't make it in time, Kakashi realized. He drew in a deep breath, and blew a massive fire ball at their backs. They scattered before it. The ball of flame crashed into Kakashi's mizu bunshin, and the two jutsu disappeared in a cloud of steam. Mostly. Kakashi was on the veranda a moment later stamping out a few stray flames. The two jounin were crouched warily to either side of him.

Finally, the one Kakashi remembered fighting before called loudly. "It's the copy-nin in disguise. Retreat."

There was a flurry of movement, and the garden was suddenly ninja-free.

Well. That was that. The merchant's daughter was safe for the moment, and he'd done all he could to ensure the safety of Iruka and his message by delaying the enemy. It bothered Kakashi that the three jounin had escaped essentially uninjured, but he couldn't go after them and leave his charge unguarded. He had no choice but to leave the rest to Iruka.

Or so he told himself, but Iruka was taking an _awfully_ long time to finish his errand. Kakashi had estimated that it would take him about four hours round trip to the daimyo's villa, but six hours later, there was still no sign of him. Kakashi was beginning to get seriously worried. The merchant's daughter had tried to get him to talk to her several times after he'd routed the enemy ninja, but was met with such profound absence of mind on his part that she was eventually forced to give up. At around hour seven, Kakashi started contemplating dragging the merchant's daughter along with him while he went out to search for Iruka's dead body.

"Kakashi-san?"

He started to go over simulated conversations in his head in which he broke the news of Iruka's death to Naruto.

"_Kakashi-san_?"

The memory of Iruka's face as he asked him for news of his former student, shining with the brilliance of a pure and affectionate heart, popped into Kakashi's head. If Iruka was dead, who would give the kid the kind of love that Iruka had? _Him_? Was it _his_ job now? He didn't think he was capable of dishing up that kind of emotion anymore… if he ever had been. But then again, who was? It began to dawn on him just how special Iruka had been, especially in the jaded world of shinobi.

He felt the warmth and gentle pressure of a hand on his shoulder. He looked up, and nearly fell from his perch on the veranda railing. Iruka himself was standing there, frowning slightly, but looking fit as a fiddle.

"Are you alright, Kakashi-san?"

Kakashi blinked. "Eh?"

"I called you _twice_. You didn't respond."

"Ah. Ah yes. I was busy thinking up ways to tell Naruto that you were dead. Where the heck were you?" Kakashi realized that Ituka's hand was still on his shoulder. He gave it a glance, and it was hastily removed.

"I decided not to take the straight route back." There was a defensive note in Iruka's voice. "I delivered the message as fast as I could, but I thought by that time they'd probably have figured out that I wasn't you. I didn't want to run into them on the way back, so I circled around to the North and came in from a different direction.

Kakashi wasn't sure whether to kiss him for being alive, or kick him for making him worry. He settled for smiling distantly and saying, "Oh. Good plan. So the message got delivered safely, huh."

"Yeah. I just came to tell you that I'm ready to switch. I'll go back to taking care of the merchant's daughter now."

"Ah. She'll be glad."

Iruka looked a little confused at that, but withdrew without asking anything further. As soon as his back was turned, Kakashi locked his eyes—_both_ of them—on the man. He scanned him minutely from head to toe, analyzed his gait as he padded over the matted floor of the lady's quarters, watched the smooth sweep of his hand gestures as he fell into conversation with her, and only when he was satisfied that he really was completely uninjured did he slide off the veranda rail and return to his own work.

…

Kakashi's rounds had taken him almost to the opposite end of the villa grounds when he thought he caught a distant sound, high and sharp, like a scream. He went completely still, listening. The sound came again. It_ was_ a scream, in the shrill voice of a woman, and this time he caught the name she was calling.

"_IRUKA!"_

Kakashi flew.

He arrived back at the merchant's daughter's quarters to find Iruka curled protectively over the girl, a small arsenal of projectile weapons embedded in his back. But that wasn't all. Some sort of viscous fluid was oozing up from between the tatami mats to spread out in a dark puddle in the center of the room. Rising up from this puddle was the head and torso of one of the three enemy jounin.

Kakashi kicked himself mentally. He'd been careless. He'd assumed that all the enemy nin had withdrawn when they realized who they were up against, but apparently this one, the one jounin who he'd never fought before, and whose jutsu were unknown to him, had hidden under the villa and simply waited for him to leave. He shouldn't have assumed. He should have used his sharingan and made absolutely damn _sure_ they were all gone.

"Oi, Ojou-chan," the enemy jounin called out in a harsh rasping voice, "If you don't want your friend to die, you'd better get over here. My next attack will kill him… if he's not already dead."

The girl instantly tried to obey, but found herself unable to move. Iruka, breathing in shallow, painful gasps, but still clinging to consciousness, had tightened his grip on her, and now matter how violently she squirmed, she couldn't break free.

"As if… I'd… let you," he gritted.

The enemy jounin shrugged. "If that's how you want it…" He thrust a hand into the black ooze pooling around his waist and flung it out in a great wave before him. The flying streams of fluid condensed and hardened into a score of kunai as they bore down on Iruka and the girl. Fortunately, Kakashi hadn't been idle. He had remained hidden in the garden, taking stock of the situation. As soon as the enemy began to move, he started a rapid sequence of hand signs. He formed the last sign, concentrated his chakra in his palm, and slammed it into the ground. With a rumble, a crash, and an explosion of splintered wood, a wall of stone burst through the floor in front of Iruka. The flight of kunai struck the wall and clattered harmlessly to the ground. The enemy jounin turned sharply and sent a second wave of the black goo at Kakashi's hiding place, but he had already moved on. He was lifting a now unconscious Iruka off the girl he'd been protecting in so reckless a manner, and laying him carefully down on the ground beside her.

"Don't move from here, understand?" he instructed the girl in low tones, "and if Iruka wakes up, don't let _him_ move either. And don't touch those," he added, as the girl made to pull out one of the kunai studding Iruka's back, "If you take them out, it will just make the bleeding worse." With that, he left the two in the lee of his rock wall and stepped out to correct his mistake.

"Sorry," he told the enemy jounin, "but I'm going to have to finish this quickly."

The enemy nin gave him a lopsided grin. "Oh? Go ahead and try. I don't think you'll find it that easy."

Kakashi's exposed sharingan glinted in the dying light. "You don't seem too worried now, but we'll see how brave you are when we fight face to face."

It seemed to Kakashi that the enemy nin's shape wavered for a moment. His expression lost some of its easy confidence. Kakashi slipped a scroll out of his pocket and began making hand signs over it.

"Ninpo; kuchiose no jutsu." Suddenly, from beneath the floor there came the muffled barking and baying of dogs, followed by one human shout. The figure of the enemy nin dissolved back into the puddle of black goo. Kakashi rose to his feet and walked to the spot where the barking was loudest. "Your real body is below here, huh," he said conversationally. He gripped his wrist and gathered chakra in his hand until the air began to crackle and screech with power. "Raikiri," he said almost lazily, and thrust his hand through the floor and into the body below. He let the chakra diffuse, and peered through the hole he'd made. The true body of the enemy jounin lay in the space under the floor, a gaping, bloody hole in his back, around where his heart should have been. A circle of dogs sat around him, looking up at Kakashi. He reached through the hole in the floor and felt along the side of the ninja's neck. He couldn't find a pulse. "Sorry," he murmured, standing up again. "But you left me with no time to be merciful." He dismissed his summoned pack of ninken and walked back to the wall of stone he had raised. He released the jutsu, hopped over the remaining hole in the floor, and crouched down next to Iruka. He didn't like what he saw. The blood was beginning to seep through even the thickly padded vest. The girl was hovering over Iruka, white faced and clearly very worried. He began to revise his opinion of her a little.

"OK, now you can be helpful," he told her with a calming smiling. "Your attendants seem to have made themselves scarce. Go rustle them up and tell them to bring plenty of bandages and hot water."

"H-hai!" She sprang to her feet, tripped over the hem of one of her many layers of fine kimono, cursed in a very unladylike manner, and was gone.

"O—Kay… Time to get to work." He began to remove the kunai from Iruka's back, trying to work quickly while still taking care not to widen the paths of the wounds. A small pile of blades accumulated at his side. He was just extracting the last few kunai when the merchant's daughter and her attendants returned, toting steaming basins of water and armfuls of bandages.

"Ah. Good timing. I'm going to lift him, so if you could please get this vest off…" Moving slowly and gently, he slid his arms under Iruka's body and lifted him off the ground while the merchant's daughter unbuttoned the shoulder pieces of Iruka's vest, lifted them away, and then unwrapped the remainder from around Iruka's torso. As expected the entire inner layer of the vest, as well as the shirt below, were soaked with blood. The girl blanched, and the muscles in her long, white neck tightened as if she was fighting the urge to vomit, but she stayed steady.

"What next, Kakashi-san," she said in a surprisingly calm voice, as a few drops of blood dripped onto her expensively clad lap.

"Next is the shirt. I think we'd better cut it off." He nodded at the pile of kunai. "Think you can do it?"

She nodded, and silently set about slicing through the blood soaked fabric. It stuck gummily to Iruka's skin. Gently, she pulled the last scraps away, and Kakashi lowered Iruka back to the ground. He took up a wad of clean cloth from what used to be the front of Iruka's shirt, dipped it in one of the steaming basins, and started to carefully dab at the sticky film of blood coating his back. When he'd cleaned Iruka up as well as he could, he surveyed the damage. It was bad, but not as bad as it could have been. A few of the kunai had penetrated deeply, but the majority had left only shallow wounds that were already clotting. Kakashi folded some of the bandage into pads to press over the wounds still bleeding freely, and once again lifted Iruka. "Alright. Wrap the rest of the bandage around him, tight as you can."

The girl hastened to comply. She managed the lower back just fine, but when they got to the more complicated business of winding the bandage around his upper back and shoulders, Kakashi balanced Iruka over his thighs and took over. He finished the job and carried Iruka over to the futon he'd had the ladies-in-waiting lay out. Iruka was still unconscious and looked a little pale, but his breathing was deep and even, and his pulse was strong.

"Will Iruka be alright?" asked a concerned voice at his shoulder.

Now that he was sure Iruka was out of danger, Kakashi had time to be surprised. He'd taken the girl for a self-centered brat; a pampered Ojou-sama with no consideration for the people around her. She'd begun to show a completely different side of herself, however. Kakashi couldn't imagine that the girl had ever seen a wound worse than a needle prick in the whole course of her life, but she'd pulled herself together and done everything he asked of her, quietly and efficiently. And then, she hadn't hesitated for even a second when the enemy jounin had told her that Iruka would die if she didn't give herself up. Actually, it seemed to Kakashi that, starting from that first anguished scream, she'd had nothing but Iruka's safety in her head.

He turned a sharp eye on her. Could the girl have actually _fallen in love with Iruka?_ Kakashi felt a peculiar and wholly unexpected mix of emotions. Unexpected emotion #1: He felt he understood exactly how she felt about Iruka; not just intellectually, but with the kind of visceral understanding you only get when you feel the same way yourself. Unexpected emotion #2: A kind of proprietary indignation, as if she had reached out to touch something that he'd claimed for himself.

Meaning? He _really_ didn't want to go there. He swept whatever it was under the mental rug, and proceeded as if he had no personal stake in whatever the merchant's daughter might or might not feel for his comrade.

He gave the girl the sort of reassuring smile a doctor gives to worried family members after an operation. "Iruka's strong. He'll be fine."

An expression of deep relief flashed across the girl's face. Then she put back on her mask of bored unconcern. "Ah. Is that so," she said in an off-hand voice, and turned away.

Kakashi raised an eyebrow, but didn't say anything. After all, she was supposed to be getting married to someone else tomorrow. She had even more reason than he did to pretend…

Scratch that thought. He didn't have to pretend anything, because he _had_ no feelings for Iruka. Nothing beyond what you might be expected to feel for a fellow Konoha shinobi. Nothing more. Right.

….

Until next time!


	3. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I have no rights to Naruto. Apologies to the real owners for stealing their characters and making them do strange things.

…..

Two Requests:

Chapter 4: Pass it Along

Iruka slept all through the night and late into the morning, which meant that Kakashi was once again stuck babysitting the merchant's daughter. She'd recovered remarkably since last night's adventures. She was just as bratty, selfish, and flirtatious as ever. The whole household was caught up in a flurry of last-minute preparations for the wedding ceremony. In the midst of this, the bride herself sat idly whining to Kakashi about what a bore it was to be getting married, suggesting to Kakashi that he elope with her, and responding to his mild refusals with complaints that _he_ was a bore, too. She kept her distance, though, until by some chance every single one of her attendants were called away almost simultaneously on their separate wedding related errands. They hadn't been left alone two seconds before Kakashi found himself flat on his back with the girl on top of him.

He raised an eyebrow. "This is taking things a bit too far, don't you think?" he suggested calmly.

"Hmph. It's fine isn't it? I'll have the rest of my life to be married to _that man_," she said dismissively, "But right now, there's something I have to say to you. I _know_ you know how I feel about Iruka."

Kakashi's eye widened with surprise. He hadn't thought she would admit to it willingly.

"But you're not the only one with eyes and a brain," she continued. "It's annoying to think that _you'll _be taking him instead of me, but there's nothing I can do about it, so here's my first request: Take good care of him."

For a moment, Kakashi was too shocked even to breathe. Then, he came back to his senses. His eye once again half lidded and unreadable, he asked obtusely, "…Take him where?"

The girl clicked her tongue impatiently. "Fine. If you don't want to admit it now, that's fine. Eventually, you'll get over yourself. For when you do, this is my second request: Pass this along to him for me." Before Kakashi could come up with another protestation of innocence, he found his mouth blocked by hers.

For about a millisecond, he considered pushing her off, but she was putting all the passion she had for Iruka into this kiss, and it was by no means an unpleasant sensation. "Oh, what's the harm," he told himself, relaxing into the kiss and even letting his arms wrap themselves around her soft body, "let the girl have her last huzzah."

Iruka chose that moment to appear.

A loud gasp alerted them to his presence, and they both looked up to find him frozen in the doorway, an almost comical look of horror on his face. For a moment, the girl's face wore an expression that almost mirrored Iruka's. She recovered herself admirably, however. Kakashi felt her muscles spasm, but instead of starting away from him guiltily, she picked herself up slowly, languorously. She turned a pouting face to Iruka, tilted her head, and drawled, "Couldn't you have stayed asleep a little longer? You've ruined our fun."

Iruka was growing ominously red in the face. Kakashi supposed he had better take him someplace else before his head literally exploded from the pressure of pent up rage. Of course, that would probably mean that all of that anger would be unleashed on him alone, but what could he do. He pulled his mask back into place, picked himself up off the floor, and loped over to the door. He turned and took leave of the girl with a bow, an apologetic smile, and a "Please excuse us for a moment." He hooked an arm around Iruka's shoulders, and steered him—stiff, stumbling, and fuming mad—out to a quiet corner of the garden. He sat Iruka down on a stone bench.

"About what you saw back there, I can explain…" Here, he had to stop and think. "Well actually, I can't explain, but…"

The expected explosion came. Iruka leapt off the bench with impressive vigor for someone so badly injured. "_She's getting married in TWO HOURS!" _he raged, _"and NOT to YOU! Are you INSANE, Kakashi-san? Have you LOST YOUR FUCKING MIND? Are you TRYING to ruin Konoha's reputation?"_ As suddenly as he'd risen he sat back down again and buried his face in his hands. He was dead silent, now, and Kakashi was beginning to think that his silence was even worse than his screaming. Finally, he spoke again—quietly, but with a voice strained and shaking. "How could you _do_ something like that, Kakashi-san?"

Kakashi, though he'd expected Iruka to be angry, was surprised at the depth of emotion he sensed in the last phrase. It seemed a little excessive. "Maa maa…" he said soothingly, "Is it so surprising that she wants to make the most of her last hours of freedom? This match wasn't her choice, you know. Imagine how she must feel, facing a future tied to somebody she doesn't love. I don't suppose she hates him, but that's about the best that can be said…"

Again, the ominous silence. Kakashi shifted uncomfortably.

"…_Oh? _ I_ see. _And what's _your _excuse? You looked like you were enjoying yourself pretty well, Kakashi-san." At first, Kakashi had assumed Iruka's voice was shaking with anger. Now Iruka turned his face up to glare at him. His expression was accusatory, but his eyes were red and his cheeks were streaked with tears.

Kakashi sagged. "_Iruka_…" he groaned, "don't _cry_."

…

He knew that he was crying. Normally, he would rather have died than let Kakashi-san see him cry, but at the moment he was so angry that he just didn't care. He lifted his head and glared up at the bastard. Maybe if he could just glare hard enough, Kakashi-san would catch fire and die. But as soon as he thought it, the other half of his mind cried out in alarm.

_Kill him? Someone this beautiful! This perfect!_

What _perfect_? This man was just a base lecher, constantly late, never taking anything seriously, nose always stuck in one of Jiraiya-sama's smut novels, and had just been found flat on the floor kissing a woman who was about to become someone else's wife…

But Kakashi sounded so defeated, begging him not to cry, and he'd even forgotten to add 'sensei' to the end of Iruka's name. That should have pissed him off even more, but it didn't. Somehow, hearing Kakashi call him by just his name made him feel like they were closer.

Closer, huh. An image of that woman plastered against Kakashi-san, so close that Kakashi had been all but blocked from view, filled his mind. _That_ was being close, and _that_ was what hurt so much. Of course he didn't approve of what Kakashi-san had done, but it was hardly something for him to _cry_ about; except that it was such a blatant reminder that he could never have that kind of closeness with Kakashi-san himself. Kakashi-san very clearly liked women. Even if Iruka could make Kakashi-san like him as a person, he could never get him to look at him the way he looked at a girl he'd known for less than two weeks and, as far as Iruka could tell, didn't even like very much.

A fresh wave of tears threatened to fall, and Iruka ducked his head again quickly. His vision blurred, and by the time he could see clearly again, Kakashi had sunk into a crouch before him. His head was bent, and one hand was running absently through the tousled silver hair at the nape of his neck. Despite the situation, or possibly because of it, Iruka felt the same infuriating desire he'd had on that night two weeks ago to reach out and burry his hands in that hair, and the effort of keeping his hands from straying pushed a good part of the anger out of his mind.

Before Iruka's will could fail him, Kakashi's hand dropped from his head. He looked up into Iruka's face and his eye curved in an apologetic smile.

"I was in the wrong, Iruka-sensei. I can't defend my behavior, but…" he reached gentle fingers to wipe away a few tears that were clinging to Iruka's cheeks, "_Please_ don't cry anymore…ne?" He bowed his head again and let out a soft laugh. "I really have no idea how I'm supposed to handle that, you know."

Iruka couldn't speak. Kakashi's light touch on his cheek had somehow frozen every muscle in his body. Really, he said he couldn't handle it, but from Iruka's point of view, Kakashi was handling things pretty damn well. After all, with just a smile and a touch he'd managed to banish every last scrap of his anger.

Kakashi withdrew his hand, and the paralysis lifted. Iruka looked away, trying to hide a blush. "S-sorry. I don't know what got into me, crying like that." He laughed nervously, wiped away the last of his tears, and paused to put his thoughts in order. Now that his anger had abated, he remembered that there was something he'd wanted to say to Kakashi before he'd walked in on, well… _that_.

"Um… it may seem a little weird to say this after yelling at you like that, but… um…" He took a deep breath. "Thank you for saving my life, Kakashi-san."

Kakashi's head jerked back in surprise. Then his shoulders shook with a brief spurt of laughter. "You're welcome."

"And," Iruka's blush deepened even more, "You called me Iruka, before. Just Iruka. Not Iruka-sensei."

"Ah. Sorry."

"No, no. It's fine! Please, just Iruka is fine…"

Kakashi gave him one of his long, unintelligible looks. Then he smiled. "Alright then _Iruka_. But in exchange, I'll have you drop the honorifics on my name, too. From now on, it's just Kakashi. Deal?"

Iruka felt a rush of giddy pleasure. He'd only been hoping to get Kakashi to be a little less formal with him. To have him actually allow Iruka to drop the honorifics on _his _name, too… "H-Hai, Kakashi-san!" he stammered.

Kakashi let his head fall forward with an exaggerated sigh. "Hai Kakashi-_san_, he says." He lifted his head again to smile up at Iruka. "Let's try that again, shall we?"

Iruka swallowed hard. "Ka-Kaka-shi…" He was right there, within reach. All he had to do was lean forward, pull down the mask, and kiss him, just like that girl had done.

Insanely bad idea.

But, he realized, Kakashi's face was getting closer without him having to do anything about it. The fingers of one hand were hooked under the edge of the mask, as if ready to uncover his face, and the other hand was sliding around the back of Iruka's neck, drawing his head down with a gentle pressure.

Iruka panicked and leaned back sharply. "Ka-kakashi-san?"

Kakashi released Iruka with a sigh and got slowly to his feet. He slipped his hands in his pockets, turned away, and started to shuffle back in the direction of the merchant's daughter's quarters.

"Kakashi-san?" Iruka repeated, head a whirl of confusing thoughts. He sprang up from the bench, ignoring the protests of his mutilated back at the sudden movement, and hurried after him. Had Kakashi been trying to… to _kiss_ him? There was no way that could be true, was there? "Kakashi-san, hold on! Just now… um…"

Kakashi paused. He turned his head to speak over his shoulder, but he had chosen to present the side of his face that was completely obscured by his mask and hitai-ate, so Iruka had no idea what kind of expression he was making. "Drop the 'san,' or I won't drop the 'sensei.' Now let's go. We're neglecting our mission. I don't think the enemy ninja are in any position to attack today, but you never know."

And that, clearly, was the end of the conversation.

….

Sorry. This one's a bit short, but that seemed like a good place to stop. I'll post the next part soon.

Thanks for the heads up about the misspelling, brukleflesche. That's seriously embarrassing! And I'll try to cut down on the Japanese in future.


	4. Chapter 5 & 6

Hey, folks! How's it going? I'm feeling particularly happy today, having actually earned some money, so here's two chapters at once! Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I have no rights to Naruto. Apologies to the real owners for stealing their characters and making them do strange things.

…..

Two Requests:

Chapter 5: Risk

"'Pass this along to him for me,' she says. Easier said than done." Well, Kakashi had definitely felt the attraction—there was no problem on _his _side—but Iruka… The way the girl had talked, it seemed as though she thought all Kakashi had to do was ask and Iruka would jump into his arms. That had reminded him of Iruka's strange behavior that first night they'd spent together on the road. He remembered thinking back then that Iruka might be attracted to him. Furthermore, it had only taken the girl a day in his company to ferret out feelings for Iruka Kakashi hadn't even realized he'd had. The girl had spent the last _two weeks_ with Iruka practically glued to her. If _she_ thought Iruka was interested, it might well be true. And then, Iruka had cried. That decided the thing for Kakashi. The only reason for him to cry over a kiss between the merchant's daughter and Kakashi was if Iruka's own feelings were somehow involved.

So Kakashi had reasoned, but Iruka had _pulled away_ from him. That might not mean anything. Iruka could just have been too shy or too surprised. It _could_ mean, however, that Iruka wasn't interested in him that way, and Kakashi suddenly found himself reluctant to find out which interpretation was the true one.

It had been a very long time since he'd allowed himself to get so emotionally involved with anyone that they could hurt him. Sure, there were a lot of treasured friends that he would lay his life down to protect. He cared deeply for Naruto and Sakura. He'd been particularly invested in Sasuke, who he'd related to almost as a younger version of himself. Even there, however, he'd maintained enough distance that he didn't feel the pain of betrayal when Sasuke chose Orochimaru's tutelage instead of his. It was a little absurd to think that having his advances rejected by Iruka would hurt more than Sasuke running off to lend his power to one of Konoha's greatest foes, but somehow he knew it would.

Right. It had been a long time since he'd let himself be hurt, but he still remembered what that pain was like, and he wasn't in a hurry to feel it again.

…

The wedding went off without a hitch. Apparently, either the other merchants didn't dare order an attack while the daimyo himself was present, or the enemy nin had had their fill of Kakashi and given up. Even the bride seemed to have resigned herself to the match. She wasn't the happiest looking bride Iruka had ever seen, but at least she kept her eyes on her groom and, more importantly in his estimation, off Kakashi. Finally, after hours of celebrations, all through which Iruka had to stand guard, the bride was packed off to the daimyo's villa, and the mission was officially over. Iruka made a B-line for the nearest rock and sank down onto it. His back ached maddeningly, and he was feeling more than a little light headed and queasy.

Kakashi's feet appeared on the ground before him, and he realized with a sinking sensation that if the mission was over, it was time to start the long trek back to Konoha.

"Ung…" was all he could manage.

"Right," Kakashi answered, as if he'd actually said something intelligible, "There's no way you're fit to travel today. I've asked the merchant to put us up for a few extra nights. You should be fine by then, I think." Iruka heaved an immense sigh of relief, followed immediately by a wince, as the wounds on his back stretched. Kakashi laughed softly. "Careful, now. Take it easy." And then he was gone, before Iruka could thank him or even look up from the ground.

That turned out to be the longest conversation he'd have with Kakashi for the rest of their stay. Iruka barely saw anything of him. Kakashi appeared at meals, during which he talked almost exclusively to the merchant and his family, but the rest of the time he managed to disappear into some far corner of the villa. He didn't even come back to sleep. The other futon in the room they shared remained neatly folded in its corner.

Was Kakashi _avoiding_ him?

Iruka didn't even get the chance to ask.

But Kakashi wouldn't have anywhere to hide on the journey back to Konoha, he thought, and started to gather up courage to corner the slippery bastard and demand an explanation, both for his present behavior, and for… whatever he'd been trying to do to him the morning before the wedding.

He composed his speech, practiced delivering it in just the right off-hand manner, and held off the part of him that wanted to chicken out and let the matter drop—only to find himself, on the morning set for their departure, starting for Konoha all by himself.

Kakashi-san, he'd been told by the merchant, had received a message in the night calling him away to another mission in the area, and wouldn't be returning with Iruka.

How convenient. If he ever found out that no such order had been given, Sharigan Kakashi was a dead man. He didn't care _how _great a ninja he was. He'd find a way. Someday, somehow, Kakashi-san would feel his wrath.

Iruka nursed his fury all the way back to Konoha, and the first thing he did after reporting their success, was to ask the Hokage whether she'd really sent Kakashi orders to take care of another mission.

His question was met with a raised eyebrow. "Of course I really sent him the order. What possible reason could Kakashi have for making something like that up?"

Iruka couldn't answer. He couldn't really explain to Tsunade-sama that he'd thought Kakashi had tried to kiss him, and was now going to extraordinary lengths to avoid him. He especially couldn't say something like that after one of his suspicions had just been proved false. Kakashi really _had_ been called away on another mission. If he'd jumped to the wrong conclusion there, maybe the whole thing was all in his head. Maybe Kakashi hadn't been avoiding him, specifically, but company in general. What did he know about Kakashi-san, anyway? He might just be naturally solitary. And back there in the garden he could have been… well… Iruka couldn't think of another interpretation of Kakashi's actions there, but that didn't mean there wasn't one.

He backed towards the door of the Hokage's office. "Um… never mind. Forget I asked," he begged, and fled, leaving a nonplussed Hokage to stare after him.

He found, however, that even as he convinced himself that Kakashi hadn't been interested in him after all, it was becoming harder and harder to convince himself that _he_ had no interest in Kakashi. During the last few days of their mission he'd felt like he'd barely seen the man, but now he found himself wishing for even that limited contact. At least then he'd been able to listen to Kakashi-san chatting and joking at meal times, hear his low laughter, and see the curve of his eye when he smiled. Now, a week had gone by without him even catching a glimpse of Kakashi, and he _missed_ him. He thought about him constantly. He didn't know how many times his heart had leapt at the sight of a white head in the crowd, only to be crushed when he realized that it was only some old geezer.

That was why Iruka thought his eyes were playing tricks on him when he saw Kakashi amble into the mission room. He looked again, expecting to find himself mistaken, but for once, it really was him. He been talking to Genma at the time, but he tuned him out, mid-sentence. His hand shot out in an enthusiastic wave. Then he froze. Was it really appropriate to greet Kakashi-san like that? They weren't even really friends. Wouldn't he find it weird?

Kakashi just smiled slightly, nodded first to him, then to Genma, and shuffled off to deliver a mission report to one of the other people manning the desk.

Iruka blushed and lowered his hand. "Um… Sorry Genma," he said sheepishly, "What was that?"

Genma's eyebrow rose, but after a moment, he shrugged, shifted the senbon he was always chewing to the other side of his mouth, and said "Izumi and Kotetsu are having a barbeque tomorrow. I was asking if you wanted to come. You're free, aren't you?"

"Oh… Thanks, but since he's back, I thought I'd try to catch up with…" He stopped himself before he could say '_Kakashi-san' _and substituted"Naruto" instead. "I-It's been a long time since I've seen him, you know?"

"Back?" Genma asked, "Was he gone?"

Iruka blinked. No, come to think of it, he hadn't been gone.

"Ahhh!" Genma said, apparently reaching some sort of conclusion, "I thought it was kind of weird for you to be so psyched to see Kakashi. You must have thought he was bringing Naruto back from a mission, eh? Kakashi was flying solo this time, though." He leaned down and said in an undertone, "Be a little bit more careful, eh? Everyone _knows_ you love Naruto—like a son, I mean—but if you look at _Kakashi_ with that kind of expression on your face, people will get the wrong idea." Iruka turned a very deep shade of red, and stared fixedly at the stack of mission reports on the table before him. "Exactly. That would be embarrassing, wouldn't it?" Genma continued, misinterpreting the blush. He straightened up, and frowned as another thought hit him. "But actually, didn't you already know Kakashi wasn't with Naruto? You were just wrapping up a mission together in the ink country when he got his orders, right?"

Iruka laughed weakly. "It, um, slipped my mind, I guess."

"I see. Well anyway, I'll let Kotetsu and Izumi know you won't be there tomorrow. Have fun with Naruto."

"A-aa…"

…

Kakashi strolled along the side of the street, deep in though. He was trying to make sense of his latest encounter with Iruka.

On the one hand, the look on Iruka's face when he'd walked in the door was, well… even Genma had been bowled over. Genma had given Kakashi a look that said "Oh-ho! What have we here!" as clearly as if he'd actually spoken the words.

But on the other hand, Iruka's blissful smile had been replaced by a frown in under a second, Genma himself had plausibly explained away Iruka's initial reaction as anticipation of seeing the boy he regarded almost as a son, and to cap it all, Iruka had _forgotten_ about Kakashi being called away on a mission right under his nose.

That last bit had stung, initially, but now that he'd had some time to think about it, it was a little suspicious. Being suddenly left to fend for yourself on a two-and-a-half day hike, all alone and injured, was not something you normally forgot, even if you didn't give a fig for the person who'd abandoned you. No. There was no way Iruka had forgotten that. So he'd been lying to Genma? Almost as hard to believe. Did Iruka lie? But just assuming for a moment that in this case he _had_ lied… _why_ was he lying?

If he knew that Kakashi was on a solo mission, then he obviously he knew that Naruto was not on a mission with him, and therefore Kakashi walking into the room did not, as Genma had supposed, equal "Naruto's back!" in Iruka's head. Which meant, in turn, that the ecstatic look on Iruka's face had not been for Naruto after all, but for _him. _

Kakashi stopped dead in his tracks. An old lady plowed into his back, and he wasted a few moments apologizing and gathering up her scattered parcels.

So… he could credit himself with making Iruka look like that. There was almost no question in his mind, now, that Iruka was in love with him. Almost none. He was sure enough, at any rate, to want to know one way or the other. Before, he'd thought it was best to keep his distance and let such inconvenient—no, downright dangerous—feelings die, but now… Well, half of it was that he had much more confidence that Iruka wouldn't turn him down. The other half was that he'd already _tried_ to forget about Iruka, and it had backfired. Seriously. He slipped his hand into his kunai pouch and caressed the dog-eared volume he carried there. This was _only _his sixth time rereading Icha-icha Paradise, but he hadn't been able to get into it at all since he'd started avoiding Iruka. Every time he tried, his mind drifted off and, instead of lines of text, Iruka's face appeared before his eyes. It had gotten progressively worse. Lately, his mental picture of Iruka had picked up a hallo of sparkling pink light. This had to _stop_. If distance made the heart grow fonder, than he needed a stiff dose of close proximity, and fast!

…

Chapter 6: Taking the Plunge

"Kakashi-sensei! You're LATE!"

"Ah, sorry, sorry. You see, this old woman carrying about a million packages bumped into me, and the packages went flying _everywhere_. I really couldn't just leave her to pick them all up on her own, so I…"

"Hai, that's a lie!"

Well, not entirely. It had happened, it had just happened yesterday, and therefore had nothing to do with his tardiness today.

"But more importantly, Sensei, training? Training? Ero-sennin disappeared on another mission, but you'll train me, right?" Naruto was staring up at him, fists clenched and brilliant blue eyes shining with anticipation.

"Training, hmm…" It was hard to say no to that look, but he had another plan for the boy today, the success of which was very important for his sanity. "Sorry, Naruto," he smiled and scratched the back of his head, "I'm afraid I got injured on the last mission…"

"What _again_? That's pretty lame, Kakashi-sensei."

Kakashi sighed inwardly, and tried not to let it get to him. "…Right. So, sorry, but I'll need another day to recover before we start training…"

"Whatthe hell!" the kid whined, scrunching up his face and crossing his arms in a huff, "If I'd known that, I wouldn't have wasted my time waiting for you to show up! I could be off training with Kiba right now!"

"Whoa! Don't be in such a rush. I can't_ train_ with you today, but I did have something in mind…" He leaned down and smiled into the frowning boy's face. "Say. When was the last time you spent time with Iruka-sensei?"

Naruto's face brightened immediately. "Iruka-sensei? Waah… it's been _ages_ since I saw him! He's always so busy…"

"Well, I happened to hear that he's free today. I was thinking, since I can't help you with your training today anyway, the two of you could spend the day togeth… Oof!" He was cut off as Naruto tackled him with a bear hug. He staggered back a few paces. Oi, oi. He was supposed to be injured, here. Was the kid trying to kill him?

Naruto let go as precipitously as he'd latched on and started bouncing around with excitement. "You're a good guy, after all, Kakashi-sensei! Let's go! Let's go!"

"_After all_, huh…" Well, even that was probably more than he deserved, seeing as he was actually just using Naruto as bait…

…

It didn't take them long to find Iruka. For good reason. Kakashi had been stalking him all morning, and therefore knew exactly where he was.

"Iruka-sensei! Iruka-sensei!" Iruka paused and turned when he heard his name being called. A wide grin spread across his face when he saw Naruto haring down the street, waving his arms.

"Naruto! It's been a while! I would have come to see you, but I thought you'd be training!"

"Oi, would you listen to this Iruka-sensei? Kakashi-sensei got injured _again, _and says we can't train until tomorrow!"

Iruka started back, his smile replaced by a frown. "Kakashi-san is injured?" The concern in his voice was quite gratifying, but Kakashi decided it was best not to let the questioning go too far in that direction.

"Nothing serious," he assured Iruka quickly, as he came up behind Naruto. "Like he said, I'll be fine by tomorrow."

Iruka's eyes widened as he caught sight of him. "K-Kakashi-san…"

"So…" Kakashi smiled and held up the picnic basket he'd picked up on the way there. "I thought maybe the three of us could take the afternoon off and relax, for once. What do you think?"

Iruka didn't answer immediately. He looked like he didn't know _what_ to think.

But Naruto, who didn't see the necessity for all this thinking, anyway, decided for him. "Come on, Iruka-sensei, it'll be fun!" Without further ado, he grabbed Iruka by the arm and dragged him off. Kakashi followed with a smug smile. Yes. Using Naruto had been a minor stroke of genius on his part.

…

Well… Using Naruto had been genius as far as getting Iruka to come with them in the first place, but now that they'd got him here_,_ Naruto was completely monopolizing him.

Kakashi looked out over the scene before him. Naruto had brought them to his favorite spot, a waterfall on the outskirts of Konoha that had served as his training ground when he'd first started learning from Jiraiya. At its base was spread a wide, clear pool. It was hot and sunny, but the light breeze carried cool, refreshing spray from the waterfall. Naruto had immediately stripped down to his boxers and cannon-balled into the middle of the pool. Somewhat to Kakashi's surprise, Iruka had done pretty much the same thing, leaving him standing alone on the bank. Iruka took to the water like a fish, and in seconds, the two of them were splashing, shouting, laughing, and generally behaving like five year-olds. They were playing tag, and Naruto was trying unsuccessfully to catch his former sensei. The ruckus increased ten-fold as Naruto added his shadow clones to the fray. Iruka wasn't going down so easily, though. He spiraled, twisted, dove, and leapt through the confusion of waves, clones, and spray with astounding energy and agility. If he'd moved _half _that well on land, he would have made a formidable ninja. Iruka had definitely been born in the wrong country. Some island nation would have suited him much better.

Kakashi stood watching the antics of Iruka and his pupil for about half an hour before retreating. Cooling breeze or no, the sun was still very bright, and his pale skin burned easily. At the other end of the pool, a great boulder rose from the water. The far side of this boulder was shaded and cool. Kakashi circled around the pool and leapt up onto this potential perch. It was a bit precarious—made slippery by a coating of moss moistened by the spray of the waterfall, but he found a sort of niche that held him comfortably. He poked his head over the top of the rock to take a last look at his playful companions. He smiled to himself. Well, things hadn't gone exactly according to plan, but how could he be dissatisfied when two of the people he cared most about were having such a good time? For now, let the two of them have fun together. He'd just have to corral Iruka some other time. At least now he knew that an invitation to swim was likely to draw his quarry.

His attention was caught some hours later by a loud 'poof', a splash, and an angry shout from Naruto. He lowered his book and peered over the top of his perch. Naruto was crouched in front of a small, brightly colored toad. He was having a very heated debate with it, while Iruka stood patiently by. Kakashi deduced that Naruto had been trying to impress Iruka by summoning Gamabunta but, as usual, had failed. With a final frustrated cry, Naruto gave up the argument and tried the jutsu again from scratch. A second pint-sized toad joined the first.

Kakashi settled back into his seat, stifling a laugh.

"Kakashi-san…" He looked down to find Iruka wading around the base of his rock. He took a moment to feast his eyes. Iruka was radiant just now, smiling shyly up at him. His bronze skin, burnished by the golden light of late afternoon, gleamed over the gently rolling contours of his muscles, and he glittered with the reflected light of a thousand watery prisms.

"I was wondering where you'd got to. Won't you come back over with us and… um…p-play?" He faltered and blushed, realizing how childish he sounded.

Kakashi smiled fondly down at him. Following Iruka was a very tempting prospect just now, but playing in the water was well… just not something Kakashi did. "Thanks, but I'm comfortable where I am. You two have fun. I'll join you later."

"Oh… Alright then…" but Iruka seemed reluctant to leave. He looked away, but continued to stand awkwardly at the foot of Kakashi's boulder.

"Um… Kakashi-san, I just wanted to…"

Whatever he'd been about to say was drowned out by a thunderous crash and the roar of rushing water. A moment later, a huge wave surged over them. Kakashi scrambled to keep his balance, but his feet couldn't get purchase on the wet moss. The wave swept him off the boulder and dumped him right on top of Iruka. For a moment, the two thrashed helplessly underwater, a tangle of limbs and confusion. Iruka was the first to recover. He managed to get his feet under him, and stood, pulling a half drowned Kakashi up with him. Iruka supported him as Kakashi clawed the mask away from his face and coughed up a lung-full of river water.

"Are you alright Kakashi-san?" Iruka asked worriedly, giving him a few brisk slaps on the back. Kakashi stopped coughing, and Iruka's hand came to rest tensely on his shoulder.

Kakashi drew in a few rattling breaths, coughed one more time, and croaked, "Fine. I'm Fine." He slowly straightened up. His breath eased. His hitai-ate had fallen off, and his soaking hair clung annoyingly to his face. He pushed it out of the way and looked at Iruka. "Thanks," he said with a somewhat disgruntled smile, "I'm fine now."

He expected Iruka to let go and move away, but he didn't. He was staring into his face, entranced. His arms were frozen in place around Kakashi. His eyes were open wide, and his mouth was slack. Kakashi returned the stare.

Well, hell. If you were going to have that kind of reaction to somebody's face, you had to take the consequences!

…..

Tune in next time for the consequences. In the mean time, please review!

I really want to paint the Iruka Kakashi sees in this passage. I wonder if I shall actually do it, or whether it will still be on my list of projects ten years from now. -_-


	5. Chapter 7

Poor Izumo. It seems I got his name wrong in the last post. Woops. It does seem kind of appropriate, though. Wasn't there an omake at the end of one of the Naruto Shippuuden episodes when Izumo and Kotetsu are bemoaning their insignificance, clasp hands over a promise to become more awesome, and then Tsunade walks in and mistakes it all for a moment of intimacy between lovers? Seriously, though, I like Izumo, and shall endeavor not call him Izumi in future. One of these days, after everyone who is ever going to read this story has already read it and revision will serve no purpose, I will get around to correcting the mistakes in the chapters I've already posted. It's a Promise.

Anyway, on with the story!

Disclaimer: I have no rights to Naruto. Apologies to the real owners for stealing their characters and making them do strange things.

…..

Two Requests:

Chapter 7: Wild Imaginings

It took Iruka's brain about a minute to register the fact that Kakashi was kissing him. The lips he'd been so enthralled by moved sensuously against his own. He gasped, only to get an even bigger surprise as Kakashi's tongue slipped in between his teeth and set about exploring the inside of his mouth. His arms, he realized, were still wrapped around the older man. He let go immediately, but Kakashi was holding _him_ now, too, keeping their bodies pressed impossibly close together. His muscles tensed, but Kakashi just gripped him tighter, and Iruka's brief flash of self-awareness began to fade as he succumbed to the sheer pleasure of Kakashi's lips on his, his tongue filling his mouth, his hands running over the bare skin of his back. Iruka allowed his muscles to relax and felt himself practically melting into Kakashi. He felt a moan rising in the back of his throat.

And suddenly, there was nothing there. No contact. He began to fall, caught himself, and looked around, wide eyed and confused. A sudden burst of raucous laughter came from above. There was _Naruto, _pointing down at them from the top of the boulder and laughing his head off. Iruka felt the bottom drop out of his stomach. He'd _seen_!

Naruto recovered enough breath to speak. "Kakashi-sensei," he crowed. "You look like a drowned rat!"

Iruka didn't understand. In his estimation, that was hardly the problem here. He looked over at Kakashi, and was surprised to find him standing at least a meter away, hands resting casually on his hips, his mask already back in place, looking completely calm and unconcerned. You would never have guessed from his demeanor that he'd just been interrupted in the middle of passionately making love to someone. Iruka himself was having doubts. It _had_ really happened, hadn't it? His skin was still tingling where he'd been touched, the healing wounds Kakashi had accidently jarred were still stinging, and his heart was still racing _way_ over the speed limit. How could he be feeling like this, when Kakashi was standing over there looking cool as a cucumber? Was he going nuts?

Kakashi fixed a sardonic eye on his pupil. "Thanks for your concern, Naruto. I take it you finally succeeded in summoning Gamabunta-sama?" There was no sign of distress in his voice, either.

Naruto grinned. "Of course!" He leapt backwards, out of sight. A moment later, a giant amphibious head reared up from behind the boulder, and Iruka was momentarily distracted from the question of whether or not he was going insane. He squinted up into the rays of the sinking sun.

There was someone balanced on the broad, bumpy snout, feet planted firmly in a wide stance, arms crossed, and head held high. "_Naruto? You _did this?" Sure, Naruto had been boasting to him about this for awhile, but the sheer size…

"Ha-ha! Surprised? I'm pretty awesome, eh? Eh?"

Iruka's face relaxed into a grin. "I admit, I'm impressed. To be able to pull off such a high level summoning technique…"

"Hmph!" a massive rumbling grunt emanated from the giant toad. A long pale tongue, as thick as Iruka's whole body shot out. Before he could move, it coiled around him and lifted him up to hang in front of one of the great yellow eyes. "Don't misunderstand." The deep voice reverberated in Iruka's chest. "This little shrimp is just one of my underlings. I only stopped by to see what could be so important that he would call both my sons."

"O-oh…" Iruka replied weakly. A drop a sweat rolled down his forehead.

"And now that I'm here, I see we've been called for no reason. I sense no danger here, Naruto. Explain yourself!"

"Oi, oi, Boss!" Naruto climbed down to the toad's cheekbone and stood in front of the eye, waving his arms in protest. "Don't make it sound like you just showed up! I _summoned_ you!"

"A-_hem_." Everyone, including the giant toad, looked down.

"Ah. Kakashi, isn't it? You were just a little squirming tadpole the last time I saw you."

Kakashi let this pass without comment. He simply inclined his head politely and went on. "Please excuse Naruto's behavior, Gamabunta-sama. It may not seem like much of a reason to you, but Naruto wanted to show his old sensei how far he's come."

"Hmmmm? Old sensei? Where is this person?"

Kakashi coughed delicately. "He's the one dangling from your tongue."

The great eye rolled in Iruka's direction. Iruka gave a nervous nod of greeting. "Doumo…"

"Right. Allow me to introduce Iruka-sensei. Now if I may make a suggestion, I think Iruka-sensei would probably be happier it if you put him down…"

"Ahhh. My apologies. I forgot I was holding you."

"…Please don't worry about it," Iruka answered politely. He couldn't imagine how anyone could _forget_ that they had someone wrapped in their tongue. But then, unless he had a very serious case of over-active imagination, Kakashi had just done practically the same thing. Was he the only one here with normal level of self-consciousness?

Iruka found himself deposited next to Kakashi on top of the rock. He put out a hand to steady Iruka while he caught his balance, but didn't so much as glance at him. Fine. If Kakashi could pretend that nothing had happened—assuming, of course, that anything _had _happened_—_then so could he. He stamped out the flutters that had sprung up in his stomach from Kakashi's touch, and squared his shoulders.

He was feeling much more confident, now that he'd put Kakashi out of his mind. "It was nice to meet you, Gamabunta-sama," he called up to the toad in a clear, strong voice, "Please. Take good care of Naruto for me."

"Harumph-hmph…" the giant toad rumbled. He shuffled his feet, sending great waves sweeping across the surface of the pool. "Hmph. Well. Annoying as he is, now that I've accepted him as my underling, I suppose I have a responsibility keep him safe…Even though he's just an annoying little fly… Harrrumph-humph-humph…"

Iruka heard something that sounded suspiciously like a stifled laughter from under Kakashi's mask. He was having some difficulty suppressing a laugh of his own. It was hard not to at least smile at the massive, warlike creature's awkward attempt to hide his affection behind a gruff front.

"Well then, I leave him in your hands," Iruka said when he had good enough control of his voice.

"Harumph-hmph," replied the toad. Then he called out to his two children. "We've wasted enough time here. We're going." The three of them disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

"Eh? _Eh? EH?"_ For a moment, Naruto hung in the air. Then he plummeted downwards and hit the water with a painful smack.

Iruka winced.

Kakashi sighed. He leaned forward and called, "Ooooi. You OK, Naruto?"

A shuddering groan came up from bellow. "Ooooooh, the pain… That bastard… Just disappearing like that…"

Which was enough to prove that Naruto was fine.

"Hai hai." Kakashi leapt lightly down from the rock, ambled across the surface of the water, and hoisted Naruto unceremoniously up by the collar. In the blink of an eye, the two of them were back on top of the rock. Kakashi stood over Naurto and fixed him with a considering look. "Well, annoying underling though you may be, you've worked hard today." His eye curved in a smile. "What do you say to Ichiraku ramen, as much as you can eat, on me?"

Iruka couldn't imagine what Kakashi meant when he said that Naruto had 'worked hard,' but Naruto didn't seem to care. A grin spread over the boy's face. "Don't you dare regret it, Kakashi-sensei!"

Kakashi laughed. Long silver strands of drying hair, no longer glued down by moisture, fell over his face. He tried to sweep them away, but they just wouldn't stay put.

"Oi, Kakashi-sensei. What happened to your hitai-ate?"

"Oh that?" Finally, Kakashi turned to look at Iruka, and despite his resolution to pretend that nothing had happened, Iruka's heart lurched disconcertingly in his chest. Kakashi's eye turned away again, leaving Iruka to draw in deep—though surreptitious—steadying breaths. "I lost it when I practically _drowned_, Naruto, in the wave Gamabunta made when _you_ summoned him."

"A-aah. My bad, sensei…"

"Right. Just don't do it again, eh? Just because I can use suiton doesn't mean I enjoy getting soaked."

Even Naruto caught the edge in Kakashi's voice. "Sorry, sorry! I'll go find your hitai-ate for you, so forgive me?"

Kakashi raised an eyebrow. "In the dark?" And it _was _getting dark. The sun had set while they were talking. He sighed. "It's fine, Naurto. I'll come back for it tomorrow. Another set of fine strands sifted into his face. He shook his head irritably, and the whole lot came tumbling down.

Even Iruka had to laugh. "I'll get it for you, Kakashi-san," he said when he'd gotten his breath back. He dove off the rock, and felt along the rocky bottom of the pool. Even working by touch, it didn't take him long to find what he was looking for. After all, he never felt more at home than when he was in the water. He came up for air, hitai-ate in hand. He climbed onto the surface of the water, and jumped up to the top of the boulder. "Here you are, Kakashi-san."

He'd thought Kakashi would hold out a hand for it, but instead he bent his head, as if he expected Iruka to tie the hitai-ate for him. Iruka froze. He never _had_ got a chance to touch that hair, had he. But even now that he had been given a legitimate reason, he couldn't work up the courage to do it.

"Oi, what's the hold up, Iruka-sensei?" Naruto snatched the hitai-ate impatiently out of his hands, and a moment later had it tied around his teacher's forehead.

Kakashi sighed, and straightened up. "_Thanks_, Naruto." Was Iruka just imagining that note of annoyance in Kakashi's voice?

"No problem. Can we go now? I'm starving."

"Hai, hai."

"And Iruka-sensei's coming with us too, right?"

Iruka had half a mind to refuse. Being around Kakashi was proving to be… a little tiring. He was just about to make his excuses, when he glimpsed a flash of red light in the gathering dark. Before he knew it, he'd agreed to tag along. Kakashi was just settling his hitai-ate over his left eye. Iruka frowned. Did the sharingan have hypnotic abilities? He couldn't' remember. In any event, he was stuck now. He had no choice but to follow as the other two took off in the direction of Konoha.

…

Along the way to Ichiraku, they met with Sakura. She greeted Iruka politely before moving on to the members of her team. "Kakashi-sensei! I didn't realize you were with Naruto, today. Training?"

Naruto answered for him. "Naw, Kakashi-sensei got himself injured on a mission again, so no training today. Can you believe it? Isn't that lame?"

Sakura's reaction to this news was a little odd, Iruka thought. The girl wore an expression rather of perplexity than concern. She looked her sensei over from head to foot, and instead of asking if he was OK, she said with a frown, "He says he's injured, does he?"

Iruka thought he caught a sharp, almost dangerous glint in Kakashi's eye before it curved in a smile. "That's _right_, Sakura, I _do_." The two of them regarded each other steadily, Sakura frowning and Kakashi smiling, for another minute.

Finally, Sakura rearranged her features into a sweet smile. "I see… and will you be 'well' enough to help Naruto with his training tomorrow, Kakashi-sensei?" It was phrased as a question, but Iruka thought it sounded more like a command. Judging from Kakashi's tremulous laugh, that was how he'd heard it, too.

"Maa, maa. I'll train him properly tomorrow, Sakura, I swear," he promised the girl, rubbing the back of his head. Iruka noticed that he'd begun to stoop slightly while talking to her, as if trying not to be too tall. "She handles him well," he thought enviously. "I wonder if I could ask for lessons."

The girl answered Kakashi with a snort, but the conversation ended there, since they had reached Ichiraku Ramen. They all ducked under the fabric flaps hanging at the front of the shop and crammed in at the small counter. Iruka found himself on the end, separated from Kakashi by the two young ones. He dropped out of the conversation, and just watched the three remaining members of team 7 toss insults and criticisms back and forth with friendly ease. They'd really pulled together as a team, he thought, unlikely as that had seemed in the beginning. Sharingan Kakashi, the genius, had somehow built a relationship of confidence and respect with Naruto, the former drop-out and class clown. The brainy Sakura was an oddly good match for Naruto, too. Possibly this was because, with him, she didn't have to worry about disguising her violent nature. One; she'd been a bitch to him from the start, so it was too late to start pretending, and two; she could deck him as hard as she could, and he would always heal good as new.

Iruka came out of his fond reverie as a tense silence fell over the group. The food had been set down in front of them, and Sakura and Naruto, while both pretending to attend to their own bowls, had their eyes surreptitiously fixed on Kakashi. That was right, Iruka remembered giddily, he was the only one of the three that had been allowed to see beneath the mask, and he had an odd desire to keep that distinction all to himself. It was then that he noticed that the store owners were also staring at Kakashi, cheeks slightly flushed and greedy expressions in their eyes. He got the feeling that they, too, had already seen Kakashi's face, and he was disappointed.

Kakashi, seemingly oblivious to all the avidly watching eyes, took a pair of chopsticks from a cup on the counter and separated them with a snap. "Itadakimasu…" There was a collective intake of breath as he reached up towards his mask. The fabric began to slide down the bridge of his nose…

_BAM! CRASH! BOOM, bing, bam, BOM!_

Every one jumped and turned to look for the source of the alarming sounds. As they did, the wall of the restaurant across the way exploded outwards, showering the street with splintered beams, crumbled plaster, and broken glass. Sprawled in the midst of the devastation was Konoha's beautiful green beast. There was a hushed silence while everyone stared, and then Lee suddenly flipped onto his feet. He glared around at the astonished passers-by, swaying drunkenly. Neji and Gai sprang out of the jagged opening that had once been a wall. Neji lunged for his teammate. He caught him easily enough, but with a warbling battle cry, Lee swung his captor over his head and slammed him into the ground. A moment later, Neji was in a very sticky situation, with Lee straddling his hips and hands pinned to the ground above his head. Lee's face had started to dive towards his prisoner's—possibly to head-butt him, possibly not—but Neji somehow managed to get his arms free and was holding his teammate off.

"_Gai-sensei,_" he gritted between clenched teeth, "_How could you let him drink sake?" _

"Sorry, Neji. I just took my eyes off my cup for a second, and…"

"Never _mind_. Forget I asked. Just get him _off_!"

Gai joined the fray. Neji managed to get back on his feet, and the two of them struggled to contain their flailing companion.

"Gochisousama…" Iruka, Naruto, and Sakura turned away from the action as one to stare at Kakashi. He was holding his hands together in a polite gesture of thanks over his empty bowl, and his mask was back in place.

Neji was the first one to see Sakura coming. His pale eyes went wide, and he immediately dropped his hold on Lee and leapt back to a safe distance. Gai and Lee weren't quick enough. There was a sickening crunching noise as a fist connected with each face. The two flew through the air in neat, parallel arcs, and plowed into the ground some distance down the road. Sakura stalked after them, hauled Lee up by the front of his jump suit, and started to shake him violently.

"_SHAANNARO!" _ She roared in his face, "Because of you we _missed it, _you drunken freak!"

"Hmmmm?" Kakashi-san leaned out of Ichiraku and gazed impassively down the street to where his student was choking the life out of Gai's. "Something up?"

…

Sakura, profound though her rage had been, managed not to cause any property damage, so while Lee and the other members of team Gai were stuck dealing with the furious owners of the trashed restaurant, Iruka and Team 7 were free to make their escape. Kakashi settled the bill. He'd already stated his intention to pay for Naruto, and when Iruka pulled out his wallet, Kakashi had smiled at him and shook his head. "My treat, Iruka."

"Oh, thanks, Kakashi-sensei," Sakura said, smiling sweetly.

"I believe I said _Iruka_."

The pretty, pastel eyes suddenly acquired a steely glint. "You know, Kakashi-sensei, I'm worried after all. Let's have a look at that _injury_ you say you have…"

"…That's very sweet of you Sakura, but I'm fine…"

"_I insist_."

Kakashi's shoulders slumped and he started thumbing though his wallet. "… How much was your ramen again?"

With that settled—to Sakura's satisfaction, at any rate—the four of them strolled off into the gathering night. Iruka was caught up in enjoyment of the pleasant evening. He walked with his head thrown back, watching the stars that were beginning to twinkle in the velvety purple sky. He listened to the wind whispering through the leaves, and exulted as it brushed cooling fingers across his cheeks.

He came back down to earth when Kakashi put out a hand to keep him from walking through a pile of dog shit.

"Uah… that was close. Thanks Kakashi-san…" He trailed off, realizing that Naruto and Sakura weren't with them. He looked around wildly, suddenly nervous at the idea of being all alone with Kakashi. He caught distant sounds of strife, and homed in on the pair walking a few dozen meters ahead. Iruka started after them like a thoroughbred breaking from the gates in a triple-crown race.

He'd almost reached them. He opened his mouth to call out.

"Naru-_mph_!" A hand clapped over his mouth and his flight was stopped short as an arm came out of nowhere and closed around him. He was jerked backwards and pinned against a hard body.

"Naruto… did you hear something?"

"Aah? Nope. Must've been your imagination."

"Really? Sakura dropped back a step and turned to look. "I could have sworn that was…" She froze, and the appalled look on her face said very eloquently, "What the fuck are you _doing_, Kakashi-sensei?"

Because Kakashi's shaggy silver head had appeared at Iruka's shoulder, so now he knew _who_ had caught him, even if _why_ was still far beyond his comprehension.

"Sakura-chan, hurry up! I'm going to leave you behind!"

"Hmelph!" Iruka yelped into the hand over his mouth. Sakura opened her mouth to alert Naruto to the situation, but Kakashi shook his head in a vigorous "No!"

Sakura shut her mouth, but continued to look dubious. Kakashi shifted his grip so that the hand pinning Iruka to his chest was now clamped over his mouth. Having freed one hand, he brought a finger to his lips, asking for silence, and then bowed his head and raised his hand in half a gesture of supplication.

Sakura gave a disgusted sigh, but shrugged her shoulders as if to say, "This is between you senseis. I don't care _what_ you do, as long as you don't get me involved."

"Hey Sakura?" A few yards further on, Naruto started to turn. Kakashi made a frantic shooing motion with his hand. Sakura gave him a last derisive look, and turned away.

"Coming, Naruto, _coming._" She trotted up beside him.

"What were you doing? See anything back there?"

"You don't want to know."

"Eh? What's that supposed to mean? Now I'm really cur…"

"If you turn your head one more inch, Naruto, I'll break it for you."

"Ehhhh? Sakura-chan, you're being too scary_…_"

….

OK. Next time folks. As usual, I'm counting on you to point out mistakes or things that you think should have been done differently!

I think I might have to go read some KakaSaku fics. She's really quite the kick-ass character in Shippuuden, if you can just get past the Sasuke obsession… Sorry if I've offended any die-hard KakaIru fans, but I'm afraid I'm not so fastidious. I'll take almost anything with Kakashi in it. XD


	6. Chapter 8 & 9

Warning: If you haven't noticed, the rating has gone from T to M.

Disclaimer: I have no rights to Naruto. Apologies to the real owners for stealing their characters and making them do strange things.

…..

Two Requests:

Chapter 8: Pinch Me

Gradually, the voices of Naruto and Sakura died away. When they were well out of sight and out of hearing, Kakashi relaxed his hold, and Iruka sprang away from him. He took up a combative stance well out of reach. Kakashi, on the other hand, looked completely at ease, hands resting casually on his hips, and his head tilted slightly to one side. It was pissing Iruka off that Kakashi was so chill after jumping someone out of the blue. "What was _that_ for?" he hissed.

"Obviously, that was to separate you from Naruto and Sakura. Otherwise, they would still be hanging around when we reached my apartment."

"So? I don't get it."

Kakashi sighed. "_Ano ne_… Do you really think I'm going to let you go home tonight, after what we did this afternoon?"

"What we…?" Iruka flushed crimson. Then the first part of what Kakashi had said sunk in. _Not going to let him go home tonight? _A thrill ran through his body. His _whole_ body, from the top of his head to the tip of his… well…

But his mind wasn't quite as ready as his body apparently was to go along with Kakashi's plan. After all, the guy had been jerking him around since that first attempt to kiss him over a week ago.

"I thought you were pretending that nothing happened," he said stiffly.

"That's right," Kakashi answered calmly, "_In front of Naruto, _I was pretending that nothing happened."

OK, Iruka could definitely see where that made sense, although he was still miffed that Kakashi _could_ pretend that nothing had happened. How strong could his feelings be if they were so easily controlled? I mean sure, that was part of Kakashi's appeal, the way he always seemed to be in control of himself and the situation, but Iruka didn't want to go into a relationship where he'd always be wondering what Kakashi really thought of him, or how much longer he'd be able keep his interest. And as much as he wanted Kakashi just now, he did _not_ want just a one night stand. He knew he wouldn't be satisfied with just that, and if that was all Kakashi had in mind… Well, it would be even harder for Iruka to get over Kakashi if he let things go any farther than they already had. He backed slowly away. The smart thing to do was just leave. Now if only he could make himself do it…

Iruka was pulled away from his inner battle by the sound of Kakashi letting out a long, weary breath. He stared at him, surprised. Kakashi was pinching the bridge of his nose, as if his head hurt.

"Iruka. Sorry. I thought you wanted this, too. If I've made a mistake…" He stopped, tilted his head up, and stared into the blackness above. "If… you don't feel anything for me… _please_, just hurry up and say so." His voice was measured, controlled, but there was _pain_ in it.

It wasn't raw pain. He wasn't yelling or crying like Iruka probably would have been. He could also hear in Kakashi's voice that he was already beginning the work of wrapping up his feelings for Iruka and sealing them away somewhere they couldn't hurt him. But Iruka recognized the pain none the less, and it tugged at his heart.

Before he could think it through, he was blurting, "No! That's not it! I love you, Kakashi-san, but I just don't know…" His brain caught up with him, and he stopped. Too late, though. He'd said too much. Kakashi's eye, which had initially gone wide with shock, had already folded into a merrily, and somewhat mischievously, twinkling crescent. He began to advance on Iruka.

Iruka backed away from him. "Dammit, I just never know what you're _thinking_, Kakashi-san." Kakashi took another step forward, and he took another step back. "I mean, on that mission… you kiss that girl, and then ten minutes later you turn around and try to kiss _me_…That _was_ what you were doing, wasn't it?"

"Yes, it certainly was." Kakashi reached for him, and Iruka skipped out of reach.

"And then you turn around and spend the next few days completely avoiding me!"

"I was afraid."

"You were _what_?"

"_You_ were the one who pulled away, Iruka. There was a chance you just weren't interested in me, and I was afraid to find out."

"I-I was just surprised! You've got to admit that was totally out of the blue…"

"Not _nearly_ as out of the blue as you trying to grope me in my sleep the very first night we spent together."

Iruka was indignant. "I wasn't trying to _grope _you! I…" Indignation was replaced with embarrassment. "I, um… just wanted to touch your hair…"

"Ohhhh? Would you like to touch it now?" Kakashi stepped close to Iruka and ducked his head invitingly. Iruka shook his head and retreated stubbornly.

"And today, you stopped _right in the middle_ of kissing me, and you looked like absolutely _nothing_ had happened! I thought I must have been hallucinating, or something! I was seriously worried that I was losing my mind, Kakashi-san!"

Kakashi laughed. "Really, Iruka, are you sure you're a ninja? Hiding our emotions is supposed to be second nature to us."

"Shut up! Anyway, it's just not naturalto be able to do it _that_ well!"

"I see. So you don't like it when I hide my emotions. Then how about I give you a taste of how I'm feeling right now?"

"W-wait a minute!" Iruka tried to retreat again, but found that Kakashi had backed him into a tree. Kakashi planted his arms on either side of him, and he was trapped. Kakashi leaned in slowly, his dark eye focused unwaveringly on Iruka's face. His heart beat faster and faster. Finally he couldn't take it anymore, and closed his eyes to await the kiss.

Seconds ticked by, and nothing happened. Growing impatient, Iruka opened one eye. Kakashi had withdrawn, and was observing him speculatively, mask still in place, and arms crossed over his chest. Even though he'd been objecting to Kakashi's advances just a moment ago, Iruka was disappointed. "You see?" he grumbled, "You're still jerking me around."

Kakashi laughed. "Sorry. I was just thinking… I passed the kiss along for the Ojou-sama with the last one, so this one will really be just between the two of us."

Iruka had absolutely no idea what Kakashi was talking about, but he didn't care, because Kakashi was finally kissing him. Hot passion swept through Iruka, and this time, he wasn't content just to let the other man take the lead. He reached up and sank his hands into Kakashi's hair, tangling his fingers in the silver mass of it as he pulled him deeper into the kiss. He arched away from the tree, grinding his body into Kakashi's.

And in response, Kakashi broke the kiss and pulled away from him.

"_What? Again?_" Iruka panted. He glared at Kakashi, confused and angry. "Are you seriously… going to tell me… after all that… that you _don't want me?_"

Kakashi was a little out of breath, too. He took a few seconds to recover and to wipe the saliva from his mouth. He pulled his mask back into place before answering. "I assure you, that's not it. It's just… If you're going to do things like that, Iruka, I thought we'd better relocate."

"…Huh?"

"Unless, of course, you're the type that gets a kick out of having sex in weird places. Personally, I prefer the comfort of a bed, but if you'd rather do it right here by the side of the road…" Kakashi took a step towards him.

"No! You're right. Definitely not here!" Iruka shuddered, realizing for the first time that anyone coming along the road just now would have caught them making out. He'd been so wrapped up in Kakashi that it hadn't even occurred to him to worry about what other people might think of what they were doing.

Kakashi smiled. "OK then, if we're agreed…" Iruka found himself being led along, his hand in Kakashi's.

He frowned. "You don't have to hold my hand!"

Kakashi threw a look over his shoulder. "And risk you running away at the last minute? No, I'm not letting you go until I've got you safely home."

They were already within a block of their destination, and it was late enough that there weren't many people out and about. They didn't run into anyone until they were actually in the foyer of Kakashi's apartment building. A jounin, who Iruka recognized (by the sunglasses he was wearing despite the sun having already set) as a friend of Genma's, was coming down the stairs just as Kakashi was preparing to lead Iruka up. Kakashi stepped back to let the jounin pass, but the man stopped when he reached the ground floor and saw Iruka trailing behind Kakashi.

"Kakashi-san! … And _Iruka-kun_!" His face swiveled from Kakashi, to Iruka, and finally to their linked hands. He didn't try to hide his surprise. Finally, he turned back to Iruka's face and stared. "Coming to Kakashi-san's apartment so late… are you two…" The unfinished question hung in the air. Iruka flushed with embarrassment, and looked at the floor. His fingers twitched under Kakashi's. He wanted to pull away, but Kakashi tightened his grip. He stepped forward, positioning himself between Iruka and his curious neighbor.

"Aoba." He greeted the man with a saccharine smile, "Going out? Say hello to _Genma_ for me, won't you?"

It was the jounin's turn to blush and look away. "R-right. I-I'll do that… I mean… the next time I see him… which won't be tonight, of course… E-excuse me, I have to go…" he gave a stiff little bow, not quite in Kakashi's direction, and fled.

Kakashi turned to face Iruka, but he couldn't bring himself to raise his eyes from the floor. Kakashi sighed and crouched down in front of Iruka so that he could look into his face. He caught his eye. "Are you having second thoughts? Tell me if you are, Iruka." He continued to hold his gaze. "I don't want to force you into something you'll regret."

The dark, steady gaze of Kakashi's half lidded eye calmed Iruka. What was he thinking? Sharingan-fucking-_Kakashi _was here in front of him, wanting, maybe even loving, him. What did it matter what anyone else thought? He swallowed his embarrassment and straightened his back. "No second thoughts. I'm ready."

Kakashi's intense regard relaxed into a smile. He stood up and kissed Iruka lightly through the fabric of his mask. "Let's go then," he murmured, and steered Iruka up the stairs.

…

Kakashi closed the door behind them, and the lock clicked into place. Iruka tensed slightly. That was it. There would be no more running away, now. To distract himself from his own nervousness, he looked around the apartment, but there was very little to see; just a low bed, a desk cluttered with papers, and a bookshelf stacked with an incongruous mix of Icha-icha paperbacks and jutsu scrolls. He took another look at the bookshelf itself. The top edge was carved with what looked like a crude row of teeth, topped by a square-ish bump in the middle for a nose, two circular indentations for eyes, and two triangular projections, like dog ears, rising from the back. Ranks of curving lines and swirls were incised on the sides. Given the Spartan nature of the rest of Kakashi's room, it seemed odd for him to have a piece of furniture with such… character. Iruka raised an eyebrow and glanced at his host.

"That was a gift from a kouhai. I don't know why, but the things he makes all tend to follow that general pattern. I'm not sure if it's a requirement of the jutsu, or an aesthetic choice… or maybe he just knew I like dogs and was trying to be considerate." He paused, thinking. "Although that wouldn't explain why _everything_ he makes turns out like that…"

Iruka felt a pang. "Are you and this kouhai… close?"

"Eh?" Kakashi's eye widened, as he realized what Iruka was getting at. Then he laughed, a low, rough-around-the-edges sound, and Iruka felt the wings of butterflies tickle the walls of his stomach. "Not in the way you're thinking, Iruka. Certainly, we went through a lot together back when we were in ANBU, but we're just friends. Promise."

Iruka still wasn't happy, not because he suspected any foul play on Kakashi's part, but because he realized just how little he really knew about him. What right did he have to be here with Kakashi when that kouhai had been through so much more with him? And also, he didn't doubt that Kakashi had no romantic interest in said kouhai, but Iruka couldn't imagine anyone getting so close to this man and not falling in love with him. Surely the kouhai who'd given Kakashi a bookcase to house his beloved smut books—dog-themed, no less—loved Kakashi just as much as he did. And yet here he was, and here that kouhai and all the others who must have dreamed of being in his position weren't. He didn't think he could possibly feel blessed enough.

"Kakashi-san, are you sure that I'm…" all thoughts were driven from his head. Kakashi was shrugging off his vest. He hung it on the back of his desk chair and rolled his shoulders. The thinner fabric of his shirt hinted at the muscular chest and abdomen beneath. Kakashi, glancing over at Iruka to see what had made him stop speaking so suddenly, caught the direction of his stare and the expression on his face. He smirked and continued undressing. Steel plated gloves hit the surface of his desk. He untied his hitai-ate and shook out his hair. Finally he pulled the navy shirt up and over his head. He tossed it carelessly on top of his vest and started padding, silent on bare feet, over to where Iruka was standing frozen.

Kakashi took Iruka's limp hands in his, and Iruka realized with some surprise that his own palms were rough by comparison, even though the other man was so much more experienced. Must be the protection of the gloves, some far corner of his mind reasoned. He found his hands pressed into Kakashi's hair.

"You like it, don't you? Touching my hair?"

Iruka nodded stupidly. Kakashi let go, and Iruka's hands remained where he'd put them. Kakashi stood still and allowed Iruka to explore his head, moving his hands through the wilderness of fine silver strands. There was something else he was even more interested in at the moment, though, and his hands soon found their way down Kakashi's neck, over his muscular shoulders, and came to rest on his chest. Iruka stared at his own hands, dark against the glowing white of Kakashi's skin, and wondered how the hell he, former class clown, now perpetually stuck at chuunin level, had ended up as Sharingan Kakashi's lover… even if it turned out to be just for tonight.

"Are you done?" Iruka looked up at Kakashi's face, and found his lips quirked in a sardonic smile.

"Oh. Sorry…" He snatched his hands back.

"No problem, but am I the only one getting undressed here?" He reached for Iruka's vest, but Iruka stepped back quickly.

"I'll do that myself!" he snapped, and turned his back on Kakashi's amused snort. His fingers fumbled with the hooks of his vest, but eventually he got the thing off. Fearful that Kakashi would take further delay as an excuse to try to help, he hurried to pull off his shirt and hitai-ate as well. He paused, however, when he got to his pants. Kakashi was still wearing his. He'd feel kind of embarrassed completely naked while Kakashi was still half clothed. But then again, _someone_ had to take them off first… unless they said "1, 2, 3 go!" and took them off at the same time, but that was just ridiculous…

He was just about to undo the top button when a feather-light touch on his back sent a shiver through him. He put the pants issue aside for the moment and craned his neck to see what was going on behind him. Kakashi was studying his back intently and running his fingers gently but purposefully over his skin. Iruka felt a twinge of pain, and realized Kakashi was probing the wounds he'd received on their mission together. Most of them were completely healed, but there were still one or two tender spots.

Kakashi stood back with a frown. "Are you sure you're up for this tonight, Iruka? If it hurts just to be touched…"

"I'm fine!" Iruka said quickly, "Don't worry about that, Kakashi-san. I'm up for it!" Then he was stopped by a sudden recollection. "But what about you, Kakashi-san?"

"Huh? What _about_ me."

"You said you were injured, too, didn't you? That's why you couldn't train with Naruto today…"

Kakashi stared at him for a moment, then burst into laughter. "I'd completely forgotten about that. Sorry, Iruka, but I'm afraid I was lying. I'm completely fine. I just wanted an excuse to spend time with you."

Iruka gaped. "Are you serious? You lied to Naruto just for _that_? Kakashi-san, that's…"

"Trust me, Iruka, it was _important_. I couldn't get you out of my head, and it was driving me crazy."

There was a very long pause, in which Iruka stared at Kakashi, and Kakashi stared back, telling Iruka with his eyes that he'd meant every word. "…O-Oh," Iruka stuttered. His throat felt tight, and his heart was hammering mercilessly away at the inside of his ribcage. That sounded almost as if… Kakashi had been thinking about him in the same way he'd been thinking about Kakashi all this time. Was it really OK to believe it? "I didn't realize you… about me… that much…" He couldn't seem to get the question out properly, but Kakashi's smile told him that it didn't matter, because he already knew what he was trying to say.

"Yes Iruka, that much." And before he knew it, they were on Kakashi's bed, and the pants issue had somehow been taken care of. Apparently hand seals weren't the only thing Kakashi was fast at.

…

His back was hurting, and more than he'd expected, but that was fine. The pain was more than compensated for by the whisper of Kakashi's hair over his face and the feel of his lips and tongue on the skin of his neck and shoulder. He tensed as a hand found his leg and started to slide along the inside of his thigh. The wonderful, tingling, _terrifying_ progress of the hand stopped as Kakashi felt the knotting of Iruka's muscles under his fingers and caught the nervous hitch of his breath. "Relax, Iruka," he heard Kakashi murmur into the crook of his neck.

He tried, but he couldn't. "W-wait. Let me you get you ready first."

Kakashi stopped what he was doing, sat up, and stared down at him. He quirked an eyebrow. "Sorry if I'm being rude, here, but do you know _how_, Iruka?"

Iruka sat up too, indignant. "I have one, too, you know! I'm sure I can figure something out!"

Kakashi looked down at his crotch, then back up at Iruka. He shrugged. "OK, fine by me…"

Iruka scooted to one side of the bed and pointed authoritatively to where he'd been lying. "You go there."

Kakashi repositioned himself, mouth twitching as he tried not to look too amused. He reorganized his pillows and propped himself against the head board.

"…You're not going to lie down?"

Kakashi's eye glinted. "No, this is too interesting. I want to watch."

"_Interesting_? You don't think I'll be any good, do you!"

Kakashi shrugged again. "Prove me wrong."

"Damn straight, I will!" Iruka shot the older man an annoyed look, and turned his mind to the problem at hand. As he crawled around to place himself between Kakashi's open legs, he tried to think back to his own experiences. Sure, he knew how to jerk himself off, but it was usually just a quick, almost business-like affair, and he didn't think that was good enough right now. Kakashi probably thought that this was his first time having sex with another man, but that wasn't exactly true. He'd been a very curious and very fearless kid. He and his friends had experimented a few times, way back when. Mizuki, always the best at everything, had been particularly good at making him feel good. He tried to remember what he'd done to him. Certainly, it had involved Mizuki's mouth…

He looked down and forgot whatever plans he'd been forming. Kakashi really was gorgeous, like a sculptor's ideal of male beauty lovingly crafted in translucent white marble. Dreamily, Iruka reached out and traced a finger down the trail of silver hairs that ran down the center of his torso, admiring the smooth rise and fall of Kakashi's abdominal muscles. He reached the belly button, paused, and leaned in to kiss it.

Kakashi laughed. "That's very cute, but if you think something like that's going to…"

Iruka bristled and pinched the delicate skin of Kakashi's stomach hard, drawing a surprised yelp from the cocky jounin. "Shut up, and watch."

He relaxed his fingers, and was surprised to find that he'd left red marks on Kakashi's flawless skin. Sharingan Kakashi really was surprisingly fragile. He gave the abrasions a cleansing lick before moving on. His hand slid the rest of the way down Kakashi's stomach into the springy silver curls at his groin. He cupped Kakashi's still half-flaccid penis in his hands. He ran an experimental finger slowly down its length. He saw the muscles of Kakashi's stomach tense, but the older man remained stubbornly silent. OK, fine. He bowed his head and, after steeling himself for a moment, took the tip of the penis in his mouth and began exploring with his tongue. With this attack, he managed to draw a low grunt from his opponent. Encouraging. He wrapped his lips around Kakashi's stiffening shaft, and sucked. He started to move his head, rhythmically advancing and retreating over the growing length of the shaft, slowly at first, and then faster and faster in time with the pulsing of the blood in his own groin. With the fading scraps of his rational mind, he realized that Kakashi wasn't making a sound. Wasn't he making him feel good enough? Maybe he wasn't getting enough coverage? He tried to take more of Kakashi into his mouth, but realized that, short of swallowing the damn thing, there wasn't much more he could do. What to do? Mizuki had never gone beyond this point, but he had a theoretical understanding of what came after you got somebody hard. He gave Kakashi a last savoring lick and withdrew. He reached behind himself and traced the cleft between his cheeks until he found his anus. He was just about to push in a finger when a hand shot out and closed over his wrist. For a moment, the grip on his arm was so tight it hurt, but it relaxed quickly into a firm but gentle pressure as Kakashi re-calibrated his body.

"Iruka… Not tonight. I don't have lubricant, and believe me…, doing it dry will hurt."

His words were reasonable, but his voice sounded strained. Iruka looked up and almost gasped. Kakashi's eyes, both open, were trying to focus on him through a feverish haze. A flush brightened his pale cheeks. Sweat was beginning to bead on his forehead, and dampened strands of hair were clinging to his face. Iruka didn't know what Kakashi was expecting, telling him that it was time to stop while looking that sexy, but it definitely wasn't going to work. Besides, some part of him was still afraid that this one night was all he would ever have with Kakashi. He shook off the restraining hand. "I don't care if it hurts. I want to go all the way with you."

Kakashi closed his eyes, and there was a pause as Kakashi fought with himself. Finally, he opened his eyes again and fixed them on Iruka's face. "…Are you sure?"

It was hard to be confident under the crimson stare of Kakashi's sharingan, but Iruka nodded with as much conviction as he could muster. Kakashi searched his face a moment longer before closing his eyes once more. When he looked at Iruka again, it was only with the right eye. "Alright, but let me take care of the preparation. If you don't know what you're doing, you might hurt yourself." It was embarrassing to think that those beautiful fingers would have to be stuck up his rectum, but Kakashi's look told Iruka that this, at least, was non-negotiable, so Iruka gave another nod. "OK." Kakashi patted the bed next to him. "On your side." Iruka nodded again, and laid himself obediently down by Kakashi. The older man bent over him and wasted a few moments on a grateful kiss before he slid down, level with Iruka's groin.

A jolt of sensation shot through him as Kakashi's mouth closed around his erection. "Uwah-ha! I thought you were just going to… loosen things up…"

Kakashi's only answer was to continue steadily and skillfully working away with his mouth. He was good; so good that Iruka barely noticed when a hand slipped between his legs, or the pressure of a finger against his hole. The incredibly weird feeling of Kakashi's finger working its way past the sphincter and up into him _was_ enough to distract him, but not for long.

The second finger was harder to ignore. This time, it _hurt_, and while Kakashi worked slowly and patiently to get him used to it, the discomfort and the feeling of weirdness, _wrong_ness, never entirely disappeared. When Kakashi added a _third_ finger, Iruka thought for sure something was going to rip back there. He managed not to make any sound that would alert Kakashi to his distress, however, and eventually the pain subsided… somewhat. Finally, Kakashi withdrew his fingers and sat up.

"Ready?"

Iruka nodded, a little shakily, and rolled onto his back. Kakashi moved in and lifted Iruka's legs onto his shoulders. He positioned himself, and pushed in.

This was much, _much_ worse. A scream tore from Iruka's throat. Kakashi froze, half inside him, as Iruka gritted his teeth and clenched his firsts so tightly that the nails bit into his palms. He'd had his fair share of pain as a shinobi, but he was sure that none of it could top this—not even taking a square hit from giant shuriken.

"This was a bad idea, after all." Kakashi shifted, preparing to withdraw.

"Don't you… _dare…_ stop." Iruka hissed, locking his legs around Kakashi's neck to prevent his escape. He took a few more deep breaths. His body was screaming "Get this thing OUT," but he refused to listen. "I _want_ this, damn it!" he said, half to himself and half to Kakashi.

Kakashi still didn't move. "Iruka, you don't have to do this. We can…" Iruka took matters into his own hands. He reached up to brace his palms against the headboard and shoved himself down as far as he could over the unyielding mass of Kakashi's erection. He bit back another scream of pain, and he felt hot tears spill from the corners of his tightly closed eyes. But Kakashi had made a noise too, of a very different sort, and Iruka decided that even pain like this was worth it if it meant he could hear that again. "Keep… going…, Kakashi-san. Please."

Kakashi hesitated a moment longer. Then he withdrew, slightly, and pushed slowly back in. It was agony for Iruka every time he moved. But after a while he realized that, even though Kakashi was picking up the pace a little, pulling out farther and pushing in deeper each time, the pain wasn't getting any worse. Actually, maybe it was even getting a little better. The warning cry of flesh stretched almost to the point of tearing was still as loud as ever, but the horrible, burning friction disappeared as the sound of Kakashi pumping in and out of him changed to a wet schlip. Iruka forced his eyes open and watched Kakashi through the slight blur of tears. Even with the pain, it was exciting to watch the rhythmic flexing of Kakashi's body as he thrust into him, and to hear the occasional muffled sounds he let slip.

Kakashi's eyes lifted, and met Iruka's. For a moment he stared, lost between the darkness of the one eye and the saturated crimson of the other, and then… it happened. Kakashi thrust in deeper and harder, hit some kind of switch, or something, and Iruka suddenly realized that he'd been trudging along for the past 23 years ignorant of the true potentials of life. Nothing he'd ever felt could compare with this ecstasy, and all the pain was forgotten. "Kakashi… " he moaned again and again as, again and again, Kakashi struck that special spot inside him, flooding him with pleasure that seemed to build as an exquisite, maddening pressure in his already straining cock. Finally, he hit his limit. Every muscle in his body convulsed as he came, and Kakashi groaned with pleasure as Iruka clenched around him. Iruka didn't hear. He was lost in an unimaginable euphoric high.

It only lasted a moment, however, and he fell back, limp and utterly spent. Kakashi stopped thrusting, leaned down to place a soft, restrained kiss on Iruka's panting mouth, and pulled out. He was still hard, and turned away from Iruka to finish the job by hand. Disappointment and frustration clouded Iruka's happiness. He hadn't been able to make Kakashi come, after all. But a moment later Kakashi flopped down beside him, and was drawing him into his arms and kissing him so sweetly and gently that Iruka was forced to conclude that he was satisfied. All he could do was resolve to do better next time.

…

Chapter 9: Promise

It was late morning, and Iruka, still lying in bed, Kakashi's arm around him and Kakashi's shoulder for a pillow, was more content than he'd ever been in his life.

"Iruka…"

"Mmmm?" he practically purred.

"If I'm going to stay with you…"

There was an awful pause, and all the warmth and contentment drained away from him. What did Kakashi mean by _if_? Kakashi had handled him with such loving gentleness after last night's sex, had held him so tenderly all night long, that Iruka had finally been convinced that Kakashi was actually serious about him. And now the man was saying "_if?"_

"…There are a couple things I want you to promise me," Kakashi finally finished.

Iruka waited, not daring even to breathe.

"First, promise me that you won't be an idiot and get yourself killed over something stupid."

Iruka forgot his nerves and shot up, out of the circle of Kakashi's arm. He turned to glare down at the jounin. "Ha? What's _that_ supposed to mean?"

Kakashi just raised an eyebrow. "Exactly what it sounds like. You have a bad habit of risking your life for things that aren't worth it."

"I do not!"

"Oh yes you do. You did it just last week."

"How do you figure? The mission was to protect the merchant's daughter, and that shinobi came out of _nowhere_! Maybe if I was you I could have handled things better, but I did the best _I_ could to fulfill the mission!"

"And you thought it was worth it to fulfill the mission even at the cost of your life."

"Well, wasn't it?"

"Of course not. Are you nuts? "

"How does wanting to fulfill a mission make me nuts? We're shinobi! Risking our lives is what we do! Anyway, if I hadn't, that girl might have _died!"_

"And I'm saying that you're seriously undervaluing your own life. You're needed, Iruka, _alive_. Naruto especially…"

Iruka shook his head. "Naruto doesn't need me anymore, Kakashi. He has you, and Sakura, Jiraiya-sama, Tsunade-sama, and all the other friends he's made."

Kakashi made an impatient sound, reached up to grip Iruka's face firmly between his hands, and stared sternly into the stubborn chuunin's eyes. "That's exactly what I mean when I say you're undervaluing yourself. It's true that there are more people around Naruto now, but that doesn't make _you_ any less important to him. You're special. You can't be replaced. And it's not just Naruto. Your death would hurt a lot of people, not least of all _me_."

That silenced Iruka for a moment, but as gratifying as it would be to think that Kakashi would be hurt by his loss, his reason wouldn't allow it. Kakashi had gotten over the deaths of people close to him before. Iruka would be no different. He sighed and pushed away Kakashi's hands. "You're exaggerating. Someone like me…"

"You've been worried that I'm not serious about you. Isn't that right?"

Iruka froze. Damn Kakashi. Was he that transparent?

"I think you're the one who's not taking this seriously, Iruka, not me."

"_What!_" Iruka stiffened and stared down at his lover in consternation.

Kakashi's eyes were hard as he returned the look. "Having a relationship with someone means connecting your life with theirs. So the next time you're tempted to act as a living shield, Iruka, imagine your life is mine and _then_ decide whether you want to risk it."

Iruka's mouth moved, but no words formed. He blushed deeply. To weigh his life… as equal to Sharingan Kakashi's? His mind rebelled at the very idea. Kakashi was a man that everyone relied on, trusted, and respected. Hell, most people expected him to become the hokage someday. He would trade his life for Kakashi's a hundred times over, and still not think it an unfair exchange.

Kakashi sighed. "If you still don't get what I'm trying to say, then listen to my second request." He stopped there, however, and simply stared blankly up at the ceiling.

After about a minute, Iruka began to find the jounin's silence unnerving. "…Kakashi?" He prompted tentatively. When he didn't receive an answer, he reached out to take one of Kakashi's hands in his. It was cold and clammy.

Alarmed, Iruka bent over and gripped Kakashi tightly by the shoulders, ready to shake him. "What is it?"

"Please…" Kakashi's eyes slid down from the ceiling to meet his. "Whatever you do just… don't kill yourself."

Iruka stared at him, completely baffled. Why the _hell _would he do a thing like that? Did he seem like the suicidal type?

But then it hit him. Konoha's White Fang had committed suicide. Iruka knew the pain of losing a parent. He'd lost both of his. But they'd died protecting the village—and him. He couldn't begin to imagine the pain that Kakashi must have gone through. The father Kakashi admired, loved, and put all his faith in had _deliberately _ended his life and left Kakashi alone. 

And with the realization of how badly Kakashi must have been damaged by that kind of abandonment, came the realization of just what it meant for Kakashi to be willing to have a relationship with him; to "connect his life" with Iruka's. He was risking a repeat of the horror or his childhood. Kakashi couldn't have made this decision lightly.

Slowly, despite the utter seriousness of the situation, a grin began to spread over Iruka's face. He couldn't help it. Kakashi loved him. Beyond a shadow of a doubt, _Kakashi loved him!_ His smile wouldn't stop growing, and Iruka was forced to bury his face in Kakashi's shoulder to hide what must surely be the goofiest expression in the history of mankind. He wrapped his arms around his lover and squeezed for all he was worth.

"_I promise!"_

….

Thank you for sticking with me to the end! Please review!


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